Oscar the cat at Steere House nursing home in US has predicted 50 deaths
14.9.2011

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.