I go with either the theory that the cat is a soul sucking alien or is simply finding warm places to sleep where the people don't move around a lot. (He likely visits many beds, but nobody notices until he settles down in one.)
PS. Anyone else find the idea of a cat wondering around a hospital a little freaky?
Cat owner here. Dogs and cats are very sensing creatures attuned to physiological/ behavioral changes in their surroundings. Nothing too spooky about that. Survival mechanism, maybe.
Especially house or institution-bound patients do awfully well with the company of pets- to touch, stroke or to care for. It's a rather sweet reciprocal arrangement, really. Life, especially waning life, needs warmth, comfort and an unjudgmental beating heart with which to connect until that day.
I think it's a sweet story. I've often been comforted by my animals when I am sick. I hope there is a cat (and at least one dog) on my bed when I die. (Assuming, of course, that I'm in bed when my number is up.)
So the world must be a whole 'nother vibe for these animals. It makes you wonder that, since a cat knows he can predict death, maybe animals are not the little existentialists we assume they are. And what is with the cat's need to be present when the person passing is oblivious to kitty's presence? If only every terminally ill person in care had family members with this instinctual craving.
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6 comments:
I go with either the theory that the cat is a soul sucking alien or is simply finding warm places to sleep where the people don't move around a lot. (He likely visits many beds, but nobody notices until he settles down in one.)
PS. Anyone else find the idea of a cat wondering around a hospital a little freaky?
Cat owner here. Dogs and cats are very sensing creatures attuned to physiological/ behavioral changes in their surroundings. Nothing too spooky about that. Survival mechanism, maybe.
Especially house or institution-bound patients do awfully well with the company of pets- to touch, stroke or to care for. It's a rather sweet reciprocal arrangement, really. Life, especially waning life, needs warmth, comfort and an unjudgmental beating heart with which to connect until that day.
I think it's a sweet story. I've often been comforted by my animals when I am sick. I hope there is a cat (and at least one dog) on my bed when I die. (Assuming, of course, that I'm in bed when my number is up.)
I wonder what happens when two people die at once.
So the world must be a whole 'nother vibe for these animals. It makes you wonder that, since a cat knows he can predict death, maybe animals are not the little existentialists we assume they are. And what is with the cat's need to be present when the person passing is oblivious to kitty's presence? If only every terminally ill person in care had family members with this instinctual craving.
Maybe the people who are dying are actually deathly allergic to cats, and Oscar is killing them by his very presence.
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Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 2 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith.