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The Cat Reaper
FreddyD
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I just heard this story on the radio, and quite frankly, it creeps me the hell out:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/oscar-cat-with-the-purr-of-death/2007/07/26/1185339167772.html#
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/oscar-cat-with-the-purr-of-death/2007/07/26/1185339167772.html#
To summarize, supposedly Oscar the cat can sense when a person is within an hour of dying. Is that even possible? Could the explanation go beyond science? I am assuming that this article is coming from a reputable source.When death is near, Oscar nearly always appears at the last hour or so. Yet he shows no special interest in patients who are simply in poor shape, or even patients who may be dying but who still have a few days. Authorities in animal behaviour have no explanation for Oscar's ability to sense imminent death. They theorise that he might detect some subtle change in metabolism - felines are as acutely sensitive to smells as dogs - but are stumped as to why he would show interest.
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No, it cannot.
What are you talking about, this cat is clearly the offspring of Jesus.
Animals also have a way of knowing if their owners are sick, also.
I don't know if it's anything paranormal.. perhaps we give off some sort of signal that they are able to pick up and interpret as something being wrong. I don't know... but I do find it interesting.
I love that they refuse to say 25 times out of how many total. And I'm willing to bet there's some kind of scent change in the dying.
And nothing's beyond science, by definition.
BONUS: That cat's name is Buckwheat.
This is going to become some kind of retarded race by the stations to find the cat with the best record and get exclusive reviews with the owners, isn't it?
Science!
It is a mystery to the uneducated and ignorant.
Which happen to make up the vast majority of the American populace.
Nothing tangible is beyond science, but we probably shouldn't get into that discussion.
From the story I read I got the impression that he had a perfect 25 times out of 25 times, except for the time the family of the dying forced him out of the room.
It would be interesting to see what's the mechanism behind the cat's ability, as it could have some important implications about the process of death. It's not all that surprising that a cat can sense something that isn't fully understood biologically, although I am wondering what motivated the cat to act selectively on that. Only being friendly to those immediately dying is somewhat of a strange behavior.
I'll be fine, just give me a minute, a man's got a limit, I can't get a life if my heart's not in it.
Its hardly just an american thing
Well, in this particular case it is.
Humanity in general is stupid though, you're right.
Haven't you ever seen Cat's Eye? The cat is trying to save the old defenseless people from the troll living in the wall that sucks their soul out of them.
What these people need is a record player and a fan, stat.
Ah well, people would piss all over it for no reason at all, but being an owner of a couple of cats most of my life they do seem to pick up on changes in emotion and such. I'm just saying that it's pretty common for cats to have been thought of as having a touch of psi.
This isn't that weird.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
But fans suck all of the air out of a room and they'll suffocate. Haven't you ever been to South Korea?
Are you trying to say this doesn't work? Man.
Being able to sense changes in body chemistry hardly has anything to do with psychics or telepathic powers. Most animals have highly tuned senses of smell, they can probably smell the chemicals the body excretes as it prepares itself for death.
The Bible also says that you shouldn't eat shrimp. Or something. Whatever.
One example doesn't disqualify the entire religion/philosophy.
The Egyptian religion was really odd. Later beliefs had Atum screwing his shadow. Basically, anything that the Egyptians say about metaphysics should be taken with a few bags of salt.
According to the report I saw most of the patients aren't very aware of their surroundings.
It amazes me that, given how easy this is to explain, people are jumping all over "paranormal" explanations. Hell, that's the only reason this thing is even a story.
Edit: Actually, replace "amazes" with "frustrates."
Might be a good thing for medical scientists to investigate. Seems like that information would be useful.
Cats can certainly react to mental states. Once I was in a state of severe mental stress and approaching a complete breakdown of "ok, time to go to a hospital" level.
Both cats sit down in front of me, watching me with wide eyes, never taking their eyes away from me.
Body chemistry changing? Body language? Whatever it was, they sure did pick up on it. I've never seen cats focus that intently on me since then.