In previous blogs I wrote how I suspected both Mackie and Budly knew their time was up when they died. Both acted differently than normal, broke their routines, seemed as if they were trying to savor their last moments as well as communicate with their humans that it was time to part ways.
But can other animals also sense when the Angel of Death is hovering near?
Do Cats Have More Than Good Night Vision?
Something I don’t believe I’ve previously shared about Budly’s passing was that he wasn’t the only one acting strange –so was Mr. Meow.
The night before Budly died I was on the couch watching Life Is Beautiful. Budly was on the other couch, Mr. Meow was perched on top of my couch.
All of a sudden I got the weirdest feeling that someone was in the hall behind me (and next to Budly’s couch). I looked over my shoulder. The hallway seemed to grow darker and it seemed something was there –something I couldn’t see but could definitely feel. But what really freaked me out was how Mr. Meow reacted. He went from a dead-sleep to his head snapping up and his eyes widening in intense concentration on that hallway.
The weirdness lasted a minute or two…then it was over.
But early the next morning was when Budly started throwing up blood and by 9 a.m., after rushing him to the animal E.R., he was gone.
The Nursing Home Cat
I remembered the above after reading an article on Comcast about Oscar, a cat who lives at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island. The staff there started noticing a trend: Oscar seemed to cuddle up next to patients mere hours before their deaths.
Staff now calls family members to alert them that a loved one may be approaching their final hours when Oscar does this. Apparently most family members really appreciate the call, because they get to have those last moments with their loved ones.
In the article some experts were quoted with their theories why Oscar might do this, while others said the phenomenon should be studied more to see what other factors might be tipping Oscar off.
But the nursing home staff doesn’t really much care to concern themselves with the whys or hows. They just think Oscar’s pretty neat. In fact, they had a plaque put up “commending his compassionate hospice care.”
I don’t know what it all means, but I saw how Mr. Meow acted and it makes me believe Oscar knows. Maybe all cats do. Oscar’s just had the opportunity to hone his “sight” because of where he’s grown up.
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