# Oscar the grim reaper kitty **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164 "2007-07-25T23:26:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/21 "2007-07-26T09:37:52Z")
I work on a visual effects comapany, we are working (among other things) on the VXs for a terror movie, I´m the lead animator for a full CG character, a cat. It shows up before someone dies, maybe I should call it Oscar? But it´s not a nice kitty, looks perfectly awful and uncuddly. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/22 "2007-07-26T16:47:22Z")
Here’s a link to the original item in [The New England Journal of Medicine](http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/4/328). Our one-year-old cat seems to prefer my company to all others. Now I’m worried. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/23 "2007-07-26T16:56:33Z")
Anecdotally, my mother worked as a hospice nurse and has always maintained that she could smell when a patient was going to die soon. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/24 "2007-07-26T17:03:01Z")
He looks a little like my Luna :eek: But Luna doesn’t act like him- she’s a people cat. People sometimes give you kitty treats, y’know… [QUOTE=Tuckerfan] I gotta say, if I was a patient in that place and the cat camped out near me, I’d be screaming for the nurses to get him out of there! [/QUOTE] The article I read said that the people he curls up to are usually too far gone to notice him there, which is probably for the best. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/25 "2007-07-26T17:12:37Z")
My parents swear that their dog knows when my dad has a low blood sugar in the middle of the night–she has supposedly jumped up and licked his face until he woke up. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/26 "2007-07-26T17:34:30Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] The article I read said that the people he curls up to are usually too far gone to notice him there, which is probably for the best. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but the article said that he makes rounds of the patients rooms, so if you’re there and he peeps his nose around the corner, tell me the first thing running through your mind is _not_ going to be, “Aaaah! Death kitty! Get away!” ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/27 "2007-07-26T17:46:57Z")
Could be worse. What if you were visiting someone at the hospice and Oscar jumped up in your lap and refused to leave? ---
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/28 "2007-07-26T17:53:11Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] SQUEEEK!! Rats. If you call him the Death of Mice you’ll give him a complex… [/QUOTE] Cheese. You can call him whatever you want, if you have cheese. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/29 "2007-07-26T18:00:23Z")
I figure if the internal organs are failing, wastes that are normally expelled through them (lungs, bladder, GI, and even skin) would be chemically different and therefore have a different odor to an animal with a much better sense of smell than we do (cats and dogs). What’s weird is Oscar’s compulsion to stay with the dying folks. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/30 "2007-07-26T18:01:41Z")
This is local news here in Providence. The good thing, according to that article is, the people he curls up with are not aware of either his special talent or his presence during the death watch. It was particularly interesting that, on one occasion, he was made to leave and paced and fussed outside the door of the dying person. There could be many theories about what’s going on with Oscar, but I really can’t see how the fussing outside the door could fit into any of them. I wish we could somehow find out what the deal really is, but I doubt that’s possible. At any rate, it’s a cool story. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/31 "2007-07-26T18:41:50Z")
Maybe they should check to see if any of oscars “friends” died from allergic reactions to cat hair? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/32 "2007-07-26T18:53:29Z")
There’s a good photo of him [here](http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/25/death.cat.ap/index.html) on CNN, even though it’s just a repeat of the AP story. I love the mundanity of the photo caption: “Oscar the cat doesn’t like to be put out in the hall when a patient is dying.” I wonder whether the deaths would stop in that home if someone were to shoot the cat. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/33 "2007-07-26T19:00:11Z")
[QUOTE=Tupug Anachi] I figure if the internal organs are failing, wastes that are normally expelled through them (lungs, bladder, GI, and even skin) would be chemically different and therefore have a different odor to an animal with a much better sense of smell than we do (cats and dogs). What’s weird is Oscar’s compulsion to stay with the dying folks. [/QUOTE] If it is a smell thing, then it’s not so weird. You know what my Molly’s favorite smell in the _world_ is? Bleach. Chlorine bleach. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/34 "2007-07-26T19:01:09Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] There’s a good photo of him [here](http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/07/25/death.cat.ap/index.html) on CNN, even though it’s just a repeat of the AP story. I love the mundanity of the photo caption: “Oscar the cat doesn’t like to be put out in the hall when a patient is dying.” I wonder whether the deaths would stop in that home if someone were to shoot the cat. [/QUOTE] That’s a terrible sentiment. The cat isn’t killing people, he’s just seeing them off. Although it’s a little creepy I think it’s nice that these people aren’t alone when they pass. Maybe they’re not aware of his presence, however if you believe in souls then perhaps the departing soul give the kitty some scritchin’s as they leave and the kitty just really likes his soul scritchin’s so wants to be sure to be around at that time. ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/35 "2007-07-26T19:01:56Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] I wonder whether the deaths would stop in that home if someone were to shoot the cat. [/QUOTE] :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/36 "2007-07-26T19:09:21Z")
Just a thought. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/37 "2007-07-26T19:09:45Z")
im in ur bed watchin u die stolen from another messageboard, but i lold ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/38 "2007-07-26T19:15:26Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] The cat isn’t killing people [/QUOTE] _As far as we know._ ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/39 "2007-07-26T19:31:21Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] And some dogs apparently can detect some cancers by smell. Maybe there’s some kind of subtle odor released by someone dying like that, which starts hours before death. And apparently it’s pleasant to his nose! :eek: [/QUOTE] \*\ “Ahhh, I love the smell of cancer in the morning. It smells like…catnitp.”\* [QUOTE=E. Thorp] im in ur bed watchin u die [/QUOTE] I really shouldn’t be laughing as much as I am over that one. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164/40 "2007-07-26T19:36:20Z")
[QUOTE=E. Thorp] im in ur bed watchin u die stolen from another messageboard, but i lold [/QUOTE] That sounds like something a [lolcat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolcat) might say… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-the-grim-reaper-kitty/413164.md?page=3)