- ISBN13: 9781401323233
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Product Description
A remarkable cat. A special gift. A life-varying journey. Thеу thουght hе wаѕ јυѕt a cat. Whеn Oscar arrived аt thе Steere House Nursing аnd Rehabilitation Center іn Rhode Island hе wаѕ a cute small guy wіth mind-set. Hе lονеd tο stretch out іn a puddle οf sunlight аnd chase hіѕ tail until hе wаѕ dizzy. Irregularly hе consented tο a scratch behind thе ears, bυt οnlу whеn іt suited hіm. In οthеr words, hе wаѕ a typical cat. Or ѕο іt seemed. It wa… More >>
Mаkіng Rounds wіth Oscar: Thе Extraordinary Gift οf аn Ordinary Cat
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Oscar is one of several cats who live at Steere House nursing home. All of these cats provide companionship and love for the residents, but only Oscar has the special talent of being able to sense when people are nearing the end of their lives. The nurses were the first ones to figure it out as they noticed how frequently he showed up just at the right time.
No one knows how he does it, but when he detects that someone is near dying, he takes up residence on their bed and usually stays until the funeral director comes to collect the body. During this time, he also offers comfort to the family who are there to be with their loved one during this transition. When there’s no one to sit with the patient, Oscar maintains a solitary vigil. No one dies alone on Oscar’s watch.
People who love their pets probably won’t question Oscar’s abilities, but one of the doctors who works there was a bit of a skeptic. This book is the result of his interviews with family members and staff who shared their experiences with him. Over and over they told Dr. Doza how much the gift of Oscar’s presence had meant to them during a very difficult time. Most people who have cats know the comfort they can bring when they curl up next to you in bed and share their warmth. It’s as if Oscar’s being there normalizes the events and removes some of the fears.
All of the patients on Oscar’s floor are in the final stages of dementia, usually due to Alzheimer’s. Experience and research have shown that two things are often able to break through the haze that envelops them – music and animals. In the process of telling Oscar’s story, Dr. Doza also gives us insight into this very scary disease. If raising a child is about watching them learn skills, living with an Alzheimer’s patient is the opposite – they are slowly unlearning them. Each loss is a form of good-bye. While this book doesn’t make the disease any less scary, it does offer comfort and hope for those affected by it.
We may never know just how it works – how Oscars knows just the right time to show up. Maybe all we really need to know is just that he does.
Rating: 4 / 5
OK so here is this book with this cool cat on the cover, and you think there is something neat about the whole concept. Maybe you have already heard there is this cat that knows when people are going to die. Well, it’s way more than that. This book, written by a doctor who is not actually a cat person, is more of a tribute to those creatures, human as well as feline, who allow advanced dementia patients to die with dignity.
I imagine that Steere House will not be lacking for residents after this moving depiction. Needless to say, it is heart-wrenching for any family member to place his/her loved one in a nursing home, probably more so when the loved one has dementia. What a gift to know that Steere House exists, where the staff is compassionate, even loving, and treats their residents like family. Where a cat moved in while the building was still under construction, and the management took it as a sign that animals were meant to live there along with the patients. Personally, I find dementia to be a pretty scary topic and generally try not to think about it. The author is a geriatrician who makes it real, even if still mysterious. He interviews family members who speak courageously and honestly about losing their loved ones, and how it helped to have Oscar there at the end.
I learned that hospice is not just for the very end of life, and it is about much more than medical care.
I learned that people who refuse to eat at the natural end of their lives are not starving themselves.
I learned that there is a lot we don’t know about dementia, but we are learning more all the time.
Dr. Sosa writes in a very easy, straightforward style. His patients and their families are very lucky people.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough. It made me laugh and, yes, cry, but mostly it just made me feel better in general. Losing a loved one to dementia is about the most horrible experience one can contemplate, but afer reading this book I feel like I could cope. And Oscar is a pretty amazing cat too.
Rating: 5 / 5
I loved geriatrician David Dosa’s 2007 essay in the New England Journal of Medicine — about Oscar the cat, who by then had seemingly predicted, within hours, the impending deaths of dozens of residents on the dementia unit of a Rhode Island nursing home. He’d been dubbed the “grim reap-purr” and I was thrilled to see MAKING THE ROUNDS WITH OSCAR: THE EXTRAORDINARY GIFT OF AN ORDINARY CAT and, from that title, eager to read what promised to be an expansion of the essay. So first, to be clear: this book is not much about the cat.
In fact, there might be a mere cumulative total of 20 pages about Oscar. Rather, the book is one part memoir of the doctor and his geriatric practice; one part profile of the dementia unit’s charge nurse; and eight parts profiles of the residents and their families, with a dollop about the end-of-life comfort provided to them by Oscar. Nor does Dosa explore (beyond a couple sentences) the source of Oscar’s instinct — the theories and research about the physiology of dying and animals’ amazing sense abilities.
That said, I’m going to take a sharp turn and say that I liked the book it actually *is*, and that it’s an important book for the elderly and (especially) their caregivers to read. Dosa is frank about the fear, denial, frustration and guilt inherent in caregiving generally, and specifically in losing a loved one in “the long goodbye” of dementia. He touches on the inadequacies of doctors and the healthcare system and the importance of realistic end-of-life directives. And there are takeaways: that simple diversion is more effective than trying to reign someone in from their altered reality; that it’s important to interact according to who the person is now (in dementia) rather than who they were; and that it’s most important to simply “be there” rather than necessarily interacting at all. Recommended.
Rating: 3 / 5
The cover of this book has a beautiful photo of Oscar, who is a resident kitty at Steere House nursing home. Oscar has the same gifts as most animals: an understanding of two different dimensions and life unfolding in each one of them. There is no death. But he serves to guide the spirit to the other side with dignity and compassion.
Now, if you think this book is really about Oscar and his abilities, you’d be wrong. It’s really a way for the author to make us aware of the chronic diseases called Alzheimer’s, Dementia and Lewy Body Dementia (LBD). Even more so, it’s an understanding that people do not recover from these diseases and should be able to pass into spirit with grace. The behavior of the caretakers; children, spouses, siblings, etc., has been brought under a microscope throughout the book. We see their helplessness, fear and unacceptance to let go. They’re wrong to argue for more tests and treatments. They’re lost in a sea of chaotic emotion.
I’m a big believer in end-of-life choices and releasing souls with honor. Anyone who is in or will soon be in a position of caretaker, will absorb great wisdom from this author’s words and advice. I praise him for bringing this crucial issue to the forefront and for running this motif throughout the book.
If it weren’t for Oscar, this book would not have been written. We owe our gratitude to the enlightened one.
Rating: 5 / 5
On July 27, 2007 Oscar the amazing cat who seemed to be able to predict the imminent death of patients at Steere House Nursing and Rehab Center in Providence, Rhode Island made the AP news . Oscar was a stray cat that began to wander the construction site of the current facility, and one day, shortly after the dedication ceremony, he decided to take a tour of the completed facility…..”At first the staff tried to shoo the animal away, to no avail, each day the cat returned undaunted, through the lobby’s sliding glass doors. His attitude was one of entitlement.” He was finally allowed to stay and named Oscar after the building’s benefactor.
Oscar was not the only animal that resided at the nursing home. Steere House was unlike other nursing homes in the area. At Steere House, several cats, rabbits and birds resided there, and the residents seemed to enjoy having them there as well. Oscar had not been a very sociable cat during his first year at the nursing and rehab center. He was not one to cuddle up to staff residents or family members. However, one day they found him laying on the bed, purring next to Mrs. Davis, a dementia patient. Dr.Dosa, who was not fond of cats, went to pet Oscar and he hit his hand with his paw refusing to budge from the bed. The doctor examined Mrs Davis, and then left the facility, and about one hour latter the nurse called Dr. Dosa to let him know that Mrs. Davis had passed away. The doctor could not believe what he was hearing; he just left his patent.
Mary, the charge nurse, told Dr. Dosa that this behavior and pattern of Oscars, was not new. In fact it had happened 5-6 times before. The patients were examined, no staff members sensed anything was wrong, and then Oscar would enter the room and sit vigil on the bed of the resident. After a few hours all of these patients peacefully passed away. Suddenly doctors and staff took notice, as to who Oscar choose to visit, and it wasn’t long before Oscar had created quite a stir. This ordinary cat instinctively seemed to know when the end of life was near.
MY THOUGHTS – I LOVED this book, and not just because I love cats — it’s full of beautiful quotes about cats, and the story just made me feel good all over. Dr. Dosa has written a book that compassionately addresses end of life issues. The stories he shares about residents and their families who must deal with such painful issues such as Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia, and terminal illness, are tender and heartfelt. The book cites amazing examples of unexpected deaths, as well as miracles in other residents who had been expected to die. There is valuable information about hospice, and the book even touches on that expression “the sweet smell of death”, and how perhaps Oscar, may have been able to smell elevated level of chemical compounds which are believed to be released as cells die off.” If you like to read tender stories about amazing animals, or need a touching, compassionate read about life, death and dying, this book will not disappoint you. Dewey the Small – Town Library Cat may have touched the world in 2008, but more over Dewey, Oscar is the cat everyone will be talking about in 2010. READ THIS BOOK it’s AWESOME! (5/5 stars)
Rating: 5 / 5