Sentient cats

This is Oscar the cat. He lives in a nursing home in the US, and has the habit of curling up next to people - who will commonly die within a few hours of him snuggling up. He does not make many mistakes at all. When relatives come to say their last good-byes, the cat is sometimes removed from the rooms, which leaves him meowing and pacing outside the room in protest. Rather than being psychic, it is likely that a biochemical process associated with the onset of death will attract the cat. Oscar is not friendly with people in other circumstances. When he snuggles up to a patient, nurses are calling relatives to come in; the people themselves are too ill to be aware of Oscar, or his significance. This week's New England Journal of Medicine has the full story - it is available on-line only if you have a paid subscription. Alternatively, nip into a medical library to have a peep.

Last year, Teecee, a cat in Yorkshire, was reported that he would approach his owner closely and stare point-blank into his eyes - whereupon the owner would experience an epileptic seizure. Not as a result of the cat's stare, but as a result of his medical condition. Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain, where electrical impulses are transmitted uncontrollably. Teecee is probably sensitive to increasing electrical activity in the brain of his owner, which is expressed in changes in the magnetic field.

Tags: cats, death, epilepsy