Yes, the cat called Oscar predicted the death of over 50 patients in a nursing home located in the USA. 

The nursing home cares for people with dementia.

Staff at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island didn’t believe it till about 20 patients died. All the dead were visited by Oscar during their final hours.

Oscar knew exactly when the life of a patient was going to end.

Adapted at the age of six months, Oscar was raised as a therapy cat by the nursing home. Though the cat was found aloof, not mixing with others, he provided comfort and companionship when people needed him most.

Dr. David Dosa, who broke the news of Oscar’s abilities in a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007, said the cat seemed to understand when patients were about to die. Perhaps through sniffing some unique whiff of death – the chemicals released by dying cells.

CBS News consulted several animal specialists who had corroborated the theory that cats could smell those chemicals and predict.

Dr. Dosa, who was an expert in geriatric care, released a book titled “Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat”.

He recounted one instance when staff at the nursing home were convinced that one patient was going to die, but Oscar wasn’t seen near that patient. 

The cat chose instead to be on the bed of another patient who was just about doing fine. 

Much to their shock, the person Oscar sat with had died first. That just proved Oscar could predict the death of a patient pretty accurately.

But some have argued that Oscar was all about a case of confirmation bias. 

People, according to the bias theory, tend to subscribe to an earlier belief which sheds a positive light. They would reject all that goes against their thoughts or expectations.

Oscar sadly died in 2022. RIP!