When moggy Oscar curls up next to an elderly resident at Steere House nursing home in the US, it usually means one thing. Nicknamed the "cat of death", this ordinary-looking tabby has extraordinary abilities and doctors believe he has predicted the passing of more than 50 patients.
And now the five-year-old moggy has captured the attention of film chiefs in Hollywood. When Oscar sits beside a resident at the nursing home in Rhode Island, New England, doctors know they must act. The patient's family is called to say goodbye and sometimes a priest gives the last rites.
Oscar is thought to be able to detect the time at which a patient will pass away to within 24 hours. It's a highly unusual skill - and all the more so because he is a cat. Oscar first came to public attention after an article in the New England Journal of Medicine four years ago, by which time he had predicted 20 deaths.