When you consider the amount of weird & wonderful creatures in the animal kingdom, the rich history & mystique that surrounds cats suggests that the average four-legged feline may be capable of much more than we give them credit for.
Although the most obvious superstition associated with cats is the black cat being a symbol of impending bad luck, some cultures actually worshipped cats & saw them as a symbol of fertility, protection, & psychic ability.
Instinct is a word often associated with animal behaviours, but the term itself actually refers to tendencies that are hard-wired.
While cats certainly have these proclivities, it is believed that cats may have a heightened sense of subliminal information processing that can only be described as advanced intuition.
A nursing home in Australia frequently had a feline visitor known as ‘the death cat’ among both staff & residents.
Although this cat did not actually live at the aged care home, it managed to find its way into the home at times throughout the year, & single out particular residents for attention in the aged care homes lounge room.
As heartwarming as that image may sound initially, this story took an unexpected & very morbid twist as it was revealed that every resident who became an object of this cat’s affection died within days of the encounter.
While some may be quick to chalk these circumstances up to coincidence, it appears that this was not an isolated incident, as there have been many aged care homes & families with elderly loved ones who claim to have eerily similar stories.
In fact, a nursing home in the US actually has its own ‘death cat’ that has become somewhat of a celebrity.
Oscar The Cat has been living in the Steere House Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island since 2005, & has a facebook fan page with close to 4000 followers.
Staff found that as he would roam around the pet-friendly facility, he would end up napping next to terminally ill residents that would later die within the next few hours.
The staff at the facility believed that Oscar would nap near them in an attempt to comfort them in their last moments. & if he was sent out of the room, he would either sit by the door purring, or scratch at it to be let back in.
Regardless of your own personal views on the supernatural, the sheer amount of stories regarding cats & death clearly warrant some examination – but could this be the work of heightened senses? Or does the grim reaper just happen to have whiskers?