...all aboard The Feline Psychopomp Express!
Although the presence of animals is generally discouraged in sterile non-veterinary-oriented health care environments, they are sometimes effectively employed for their benefits to the emotional health of patients & their families. Perhaps similar to the practices of Saint Francis, or any number of folk traditions from around the world, and throughout time have known: relationships with animals can help people experience compassion... for they seem to understand clearly that shared pain is lessened & shared joy, increased!
Oscar is a 2-year-old feline who was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia unit of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Providence, Rhode Island. By human standards, he has displayed a precognitive awareness of the impending death of 25 patients.
CNN's report: "When death comes calling, so does Oscar the cat"
A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat, by David M. Dosa, M.D., M.P.H. (Dr. Dosa is a geriatrician at Rhode Island Hospital and an assistant professor of medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University - both also in Providence.)
Concerning Oscar The Cat, the UK's Daily Mail even consulted Laurie Cabot, "the 'official witch' of Salem, Massachusetts, where the infamous 17th century witchcraft trials were held"
I'm certain that H.P. Lovecraft, William S. Burroughs, and Philip K. Dick knew some of his relatives...
Oscar has even received an award for compassionate hospice care!
if you've come this far... here's a couple o' songs about cats:
the lyrics & audio of super-corny cat filk song by Tom Smith, called "Cat Macros"
and here are the lyrics and a video of "Old Deuteronomy", which is a reinterpretation of T.S. Eliot's poem (in Weber's musical, one cat is chosen each year by Old Deuteronomy to go to the Heaviside Layer and begin a new life... & here's the video of that classic scene where Grizabella ascends on a flying tire: "The Journey to the Heaviside Layer")
Oscar is a 2-year-old feline who was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia unit of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Providence, Rhode Island. By human standards, he has displayed a precognitive awareness of the impending death of 25 patients.
CNN's report: "When death comes calling, so does Oscar the cat"
A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat, by David M. Dosa, M.D., M.P.H. (Dr. Dosa is a geriatrician at Rhode Island Hospital and an assistant professor of medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University - both also in Providence.)
Concerning Oscar The Cat, the UK's Daily Mail even consulted Laurie Cabot, "the 'official witch' of Salem, Massachusetts, where the infamous 17th century witchcraft trials were held"
I'm certain that H.P. Lovecraft, William S. Burroughs, and Philip K. Dick knew some of his relatives...
Oscar has even received an award for compassionate hospice care!
if you've come this far... here's a couple o' songs about cats:
the lyrics & audio of super-corny cat filk song by Tom Smith, called "Cat Macros"
and here are the lyrics and a video of "Old Deuteronomy", which is a reinterpretation of T.S. Eliot's poem (in Weber's musical, one cat is chosen each year by Old Deuteronomy to go to the Heaviside Layer and begin a new life... & here's the video of that classic scene where Grizabella ascends on a flying tire: "The Journey to the Heaviside Layer")