Cats have been companions of human beings since ancient times. Although cats do not have a dog-like reputation for being faithful, many are seen to tolerate their quirks with a smile, paint their images and even pen verses, as well as stories, about them. Above all, some believe that cats can anticipate death due to their supernatural power!

Well, cats have been associated with the supernatural world in different civilisations throughout the ages! From Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) to Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937), various authors have written stories about the supernatural powers of cats. Outside the literary world, the popular consciousness also contains numerous tales about the animal and its supernatural powers. Many civilisations believe that cats can predict the death of human beings as one can notice several behavioural changes in cats before someone close to them passes away! Some have also made attempts to find a rational explanation of this!

A Brief Discussion About Jenny & Oscar
One of the most popular stories about this amazing ability of cats in the modern world is on Jenny, the cat on the RMS Titanic. It is believed that Jenny was brought aboard the Titanic when the British ocean liner was still under construction in Belfast Harbour. The purpose of bringing the cat was to destroy the rats that used to live on the ship. Interestingly, Violet Constance Jessop, a stewardess of the Titanic, survived the sinkings of both Titanic and HMHS Britannic. She was also aboard RMS Olympic when the ship was rammed in 1911. Later, Jessop recalled that Jenny had given birth to a litter of kittens shortly before the ship’s maiden voyage and the stewardess used to take care of those newborns. Jenny and her kittens used to live around the kitchen of the ship. Jessop noticed that Jenny took her children one by one and left the Titanic upon its arrival in Southampton from Belfast. She considered this incident to be inauspicious and left the ship herself. Everyone knows what ultimately happened to the Titanic!

Many have questioned the credibility of this story, claiming that Jenny and her kittens perished in the accident. However, those who believe this story ask as to why did Jessop leave the Titanic? She was a member of the delivery crew. Although her duty was over when the ill-fated ship arrived at Southampton from Belfast Harbour, Jessop received an offer to join its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. However, she did not accept the offer for reasons unknown!

Even if Jenny’s story is not true, another cat has stolen the limelight for its supernatural abilities! In 2005, Oscar (2005 – February 22, 2022), the cat, was brought to the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre in Providence, Rhode Island, the US. Oscar was basically a therapy cat, whose job was to accompany elderly sick patients! A section of psychologists believes that physical proximity with animals improves mental health of a person.

Within days of Oscar’s arrival at the nursing home, the staff realised its strange abilities! They noticed that as the death of a patient approached, Oscar became closer to that person. If someone removed the cat from the patient’s cabin, then it used to sit on the doorstep or started scratching the door of the cabin! In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007, Geriatrician Dr David Dosa wrote: “Oscar appeared able to predict the impending death of terminally ill patients by choosing to nap next to them a few hours before they died. Hypotheses for this ability include that Oscar was picking up on the lack of movement in such patients or that he could smell biochemicals released by dying cells.” Dr Dosa also mentioned that he was not willing to consider this ability of Oscar in any negative sense.

Dr Dosa, also a Health Services researcher at Brown University in Providence, penned a book, titled ‘Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat‘, in 2009. In this publication, he highlighted the great importance of Oscar to the families of dying patients and their caregivers. When Oscar was just six months old, it started sleeping on the beds of dying patients! According to Dr Dosa, once a nursing home staff placed Oscar next to a comatose patient. However, the cat went to another patient’s bed. Later, the nursing home staff found that although the first patient survived, the second one passed away, sadly!

Dr Doda admitted that he had no scientific explanation for this amazing ability of Oscar. Perhaps, Oscar used to detect something special when it came closer to a dying patient, he wrote. The author further claimed that one could have utilised the special ability of Oscar to know about the conditions of dying people. As per an article published in the Applied Animal Behaviour Science journal in 2017, cats are hypersensitive to changes in temperature, in addition to acute senses of smell, hearing and sight. Hence, it is quite possible that they sense temperature changes in the body of dying patients.

Supernatural stories about the prediction of death by cats have been around the world for ages. However, it is still unknown whether cats really have such supernatural power. And even if they have, the scientific reason behind this power remains unknown.

It is, hence, seen that the cases of Jenny and Oscar, as well as their special abilities, are still shrouded in mystery!

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das