Sometimes I worry about the world. Came across a story about a magical cat on the BBC and in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Staff in a nursing home in Rhode Island are reporting that their cat (yes, that’s their cat) can sense when residents are going to die .

Apparently, the cat (Oscar) wanders through the nursing home, mostly ignoring the residents. He curls up on someone’s bed… and soon after they die. The staff are so certain of the cat’s inexplicable ability that they actually inform relatives when Oscar makes his choice. ‘Sorry Mrs Jones, your husband hasn’t got long… how do we know? Well, you see, there’s this cat…’. Apparently he’s been right in 25 cases so far. 25 out of… no, we have no idea.

So, let’s be clear on the hypothesis here: a house cat (Felis domesticus) can detect imminent death in geriatric patients.

Am I the only one who thinks that maybe some element of rational thought should be applied to this? For starters, the edge between cause and effect here is more than a little blurry. What would the effect of waking up to discover the CAT OF DOOM on your bed, for example? Alright, apparently most of the patients are in states of advanced dementia or are comotosed, so maybe that’s out. Alternatively, do the doctors and nurses treat the cat-favoured patients any differently from normal? Apparently, they view Oscar’s presence near a patient as ‘an almost absolute indicator of impending death’, so I’d say yes, they probably do. Is there a possibility that the cat carries pathogens? Hmm… yes, yes there is . Are these alternative explanations less or more likely than suggesting that a cat can detect death?

Obviously, this might not seem hugely important in the scheme of things, but I’ll just repeat this, from the article in the NEJM: ’His mere presence at the bedside is viewed by physicians and nursing home staff as an almost absolute indicator of impending death, allowing staff members to adequately notify families.’ People are actually using Oscar as a diagnostic tool. Sorry, doctors are using Oscar as a diagnostic tool.

Personally I think they have resonable cause to immediately remove Oscar from the premises.

Unless, of course, it’s not Oscar at all and some demented sociopath is using the cat’s random choices to select victims… in any event, I think I might be inclined to move my relative to another home.