Name: Wanda
E-mail: Private
Date posted: February 02, 2010 - 12:27 pm
Message: When I was a child, I could also tell when a pet was going to die because in the hours before its death, it had a very specific smell. I later noticed the same smell when my grandmother was near death.
The smell was not unpleasant, but very distinct from any other smell.
I would not describe my sense of smell as highly developed. There are certain smells that I cannot detect at all.
It seems highly probable to me that Oscar just likes that smell and there is nothing mysterious about its "gift".

Name: Elaine Sherman
E-mail: Private
Date posted: February 02, 2010 - 08:08 am
Message: Cause of death on my mother's death certificate reads "end stage dementia." Thank you, Dr. Dosa, not only for a beautifully written story about Oscar, but for putting a face on dementia as well as explaining the various manifestations of the disease and the many reactions to this disease that robs relationships. I have three of the wonderful critters and I would take one of them with me to the nursing home when I would go to visit. Shakespeare is a 23 pound orange tabby that the residents thought was a baby lion! Thank you. You did so much more than investigate Oscar's compassionate talent.

Name: Mark Reeder
E-mail: Private
Date posted: February 01, 2010 - 08:05 pm
Message: My prior cat, Peaches, had a sense when things weren't going well. Her most remarkable one was when a friend was telling me he had been fired unjustly from his job. He was on the phone with me at the time. Remarkably, Peaches started rubbing the phone with her head! I know cats have remarkable hearing but it isn't that good. Clearly she had a sense something was wrong.

Name: Susan Nester
E-mail: Private
Date posted: February 01, 2010 - 01:22 pm
Message: Right after the birth of my daughter I adopted a beautiful calico kitten, Katie, from an animal shelter in Atlanta Ga. A few years later I had a son and my two children developed a very strong bond with Katie.
After my divorce, I struggled to balance a full-time job with raising my children, but Katie helped me out. She was never in the habit of sleeping with the kids, unless something was wrong. If I awoke in the morning to find Katie perched on top of a child's bed, I knew that child was sick. Often times she surprised me, because there was no prior indication that the child was coming down with anything. Katie somehow knew there was a problem and diligently laid down beside that child until I awoke the next morning.

Name: Janet M. Fravel
E-mail: Private
Date posted: February 01, 2010 - 12:26 pm
Message: All cats seem to have a sense when death is near. When my husband was in a home hospice situation in 2003 our oldest cat who had always had a special tie with my husband jumped up on his hosptal bed and refused to leave his side all day. My husband passed away at 4:10 p.m. that day. The cat, Sylvester, had previously layed on the bed with him for short periods but this day was different and he knew it.