Leave it to the Daily Mail to give us this awesome story--it's interesting, sweet, and just a wee bit creepy. In a nutshell, it's about Oscar, a cat who lives in a nursing home and has successfully "predicted" the deaths of at least twenty-five patients. If this story was written by a cat-hater, like say, my friend Tasha*, that writer might have suggested that Oscar needs to be investigated for his complicity.
Once you get over the creepiness, you might like this story for the same reason I do. It shows how crazy-intuitive animals can be. I've heard about them predicting natural disasters or seizures, and time and time again, I've been amazed at how my own animals seem to know when (based on my mood) I need them to be sweet or playful. (It's not foolproof, though. As I write this, Wesley has just brought me a toy mouse he's soaked in his water bowl--not sure sure what signal I've given off that tells him I need this...)
Of course, you could also take the more cynical approach that one of the experts quoted in the article takes: "It is possible his behavior could be driven by self-centered pleasures like a heated blanket placed on a dying person, Dodman said." Welcome back to slightly-creepy land. (And doesn't that sound like something Bing would totally do?)
*For the record, Tasha was a big fan of Bing, especially when he was a kitten. I'll always remember her holding little baby Bing and exclaiming, "I hate this cat--because I love this cat!"
2 comments:
hey Heidi!
I heard about Oscar on the news and one of the profs here sent me a link to the story! I hope that I can have a kitty in bed with me when I die!
anyway...on a side note... are you sure that the mouse got wet in the water bowl?? or was he drowned in the toilet many of Wesley's other toys??? hee hee!
Ha! I am thinking it was the sink because the toilet seats were down!
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