Oscar The Grim Reaper

Normally when we talk Oscar, it's about a stupid statue of glory presented to actors. I don't think you need a statue to justify one as an excellent actor. But I am not talking Academy Award Oscar today. I had just read about a kitty named Oscar again recently. The first time I read this was in The Star newspaper few months back and I see it again in a Chinese magazine today.

This cat was made famous by Dr. David Dosa through the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007. This cat is able to predict death by sleeping near a patient. Scary right? It's prediction is with 100% accuracy.


But this cute little grim reaper doesn't seems to receive bad treatment from the people it sleep near to. Well, it lives in a hospital, people there are going to die some time, some how and family members had prepared for the worst case scenario. Oscar actually help alert family members to be at the bedside of those who going to leave the world. A last reunion is something really important and with the help of this little kitty, I think most people will thank it rather than get it out of the room. 


Maybe it can sniff out some air that we human can't smell coming from those who are going to leave the world and doing its job to provide companionship to patients who are leaving. It is also suggested in the NEJM article that it hiss when approach by a lady who her time had not reach yet. So, it just know who is going to die, not bringing death.


Luckily my cat do not have that ability, or else I might had died long ago with my cats love to curl around me while I am sleeping. But if I am really going to die, I would rather a kitty bringing me to the afterlife than the conventional grim reaper.