A cat with a special ability

A moving and interesting story about a cat that seems to be able to sense when patients in a hospice are about to die was excerpted in the Readers Digest Feb. 2010 issue.

Making the Rounds with Oscar, by Dr. David Dosa, talks about the process by which Dosa explored the relationship of the cat and his hospice patients.

Since I'm the last doctor my patients see, it's my job to take care of all their medical needs, to ease their pain, and to make them comfortable. That's a job I take seriously, which is why Oscar eventually won me over.

Dosa, skeptical at first about the anecdotes from staff and patient family members, eventually started weighing the evidence about Oscar's ability, even positing the feline could smell ketones caused by the death of the body's cells.

Maybe that's all Oscar really was: a companion, a sentient being who accompanied one person on his or her journey to the next world. Or accompanied a family member through the grief of losing someone he or she loved, a kind of underworld of its own. Wasn't that enough?

Sounds good to me.

Take the time to read, at least, the RD version of the fascinating story.