The first is a rat's tale. I like rats, I think they make better pets than gerbils or hamsters, but the tail is a big turn-off for a lot of people. I hand-reared pinkies many years ago after being told I was wasting my time, that they would die no matter what I did. Three out of five survived and I had them for many years. They each answered to only their own names and were playful and friendly. I can't remember the male's name right now (something about Balls, I think - he was a horny thing until we neutered him), but the two females were "Fattus Rattus" and "The Gentle Four". That last name was partly a result of writing numbers on them as pinkies so I'd know who had been fed.
It seems that rats are not only intelligent, but also compassionate.
Rats may be more caring and selfless than their reputation suggests. Or at least they can be very kind to each other, even to rats they have never met before...The scientific study is here, if anyone wants to read it.
The other animal story is about Oscar. He is a two-year-old furball living and working at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, RI (Providence, that can't be coincidence, can it?). The staff has come to rely on him to predict the imminent death of their patients.
Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.
"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," said Dr. David Dosa in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine...
I know Key Dear has seen this story, she sent me an email about it. Oscar has been in the news all week - how many cats get written up in the New England Journal of Medicine? The AP story and a short video are available at Yahoo News. Oscar is also a psychic LOLcat posted on the cheezburger site - you know you're famous when you become an LOLcat!
Great stuff... love that Oscar article from Medical Journal..
ReplyDeleteAs far as rats go... we all have been warned about wild rats and their fleas, disease carrying problems, bites, etc...
maybe that's why most people.....
.... "avoid em like a rat".
I just found the cutest ecard by sprint... simply by clicking on the rat link provided in the post! enjoy your cards!
ReplyDeleteCheck out this video of Charley, a cat with cerebellar hypoplasia. What a precious!
ReplyDeleteCharley
Also have a look at this week's Parade Magazine - they have a short article about animal intelligence.
ReplyDeleteCharley is the most precious.. thanks for sharing those clips.. I passed the link to Charley around to my kitty loving friends.... ahhhhhhhh
ReplyDeletethat Oscar cat freaks me out a little i donut think i would want him snuggling up to me if i walked in there.
ReplyDeletebut i guess for the families it is good because they get a chance to say good bye before their loved one passes if the cat is right.
It's an awful thing for a person to gradually lose their memories and ability to recognize anyone or anything. That's what happened to PopPop's mother.
ReplyDeleteOscar works in a dementia ward, so the people he's snuggling with don't even know he's there, or where they are, or what's going on. He doesn't seem to like people much, so his snuggling is the signal that something is up, and he's got a pretty good track record. As you said, if not for Oscar, quite a few of the patients would die without any chance for the families to be there or to say goodbye. It may not make any real difference to the person who is dying, but it makes an enormous difference to the family left behind.
I'm glad that Charlie has a good home. I get like Charlie when I have more than two martinis, but I don't get the love he gets.
ReplyDelete