Oscar is a therapy cat living in the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. since 2005. He came to public attention in 2007 when he was featured in an article by geriatrician David Dosa in the New England Journal of Medicine. According to Dosa, Oscar appears able to predict the impending death of terminally ill patients by choosing to nap next to people a few hours before they die. Hypotheses for this ability include that Oscar is picking up on the lack of movement in such patients or that the he can smell biochemicals released by dying cells.
Oscar inspired an episode of the TV show House, “Here Kitty”, which involves a cat that had predicted numerous deaths by curling up next to dying victims’ bedsides.