Mandy is not just another pretty face[/caption]Carol Forsloff---In 2007 a number of news agencies reported on Oscar the Cat who resided in a nursing home and seemed to be able to predict when people were dying there and would offer support and attention. The cat was seen as a companion at the time of death or a welcome friend for the ones grieving. Folks speculated on whether or not animals could actually sense when someone is dying, but many people report that some cats seem to know when someone might be ill and need attention.
Service animals, mostly dogs, are used to support the care of people with disabilities both mental and physical. These animals have special training for helping people become alert to certain risks and to provide guidance, as well as that companionship and friendship folks often need when they have limitations. But few, if any, service cats are found, yet there are reports of their sensitivity to those who are ill or dying.
Some people offer the explanation that cats sense when there is a change in behavior and act accordingly, so when someone is ill some of them may respond in a way that is at least sympathetic to the suffering one. Others observe that people who are dying or who have cancer or another serious disease sometimes give off a certain smell that is picked up by animals. Much of that has to do with dogs smelling illnesses, which has been documented, referenced and reported in a number of cases.
The case of Oscar the Cat, however, is unique, however, according to animal psychologist, Roger Mugford who says that although cats can detect illness he doesn't know of their being able to predict impending death and believes cats would be unlikely to be able to do it.
There is considerable anecdotal evidence from cat owners that cats offer comfort when someone is sick. In the Forsloff household there are two cats: Jack and Mandy, Mandy the elder of the two at 8 ½ and Jack at 4 ½, the younger. Jack is the playful one, easy to know, who greets strangers comfortably, sits on laps and snuggles into bed with his owners, and generally is an easygoing, yet somewhat rascally fellow who offers good humor in his antics. Mandy, on the other hand, seems to have that oft-described imperious and impervious attitude, picking her people, her moods and her time to be out and about. Often she is content to stay by herself, resisting the advances of her young feline household member, for whom she has a certain disdain, and swatting him if he gets too close.
But Mandy has another side. If anyone in the household is ill, she responds immediately, goes to the side of the sick one, and lays her paws on the vulnerable area. On a night of a hacking cough, she moved to the unfortunate and sleepless owner, put her paws on the owner's lips, then stroked the face, after which she rested arms and paws nearby and snuggled close. Although she sometimes finds her way to bed, she has her preferences; and seldom sits with the female owner in the household or sleeps on her side of the bed. On the other hand she makes exceptions when that other female, the owner, that she sometimes views as a rival for her male owner's attention, becomes ill.
On another occasion, when the male owner had a hernia and a scheduled operation for it, Mandy went to the exact spot of the hernia in the area of the groin and massaged it with her paws, an unusual area surely for her to massage and the first time she had ever done that. The male owner said she seemed to know which area of his body needed attention and was try to offer comfort.
So are cats able to predict illness and render aid? Surely there are some cats who seem to respond well in situations where people need special attention. And those same kitties can bring comfort for the lonely or just offer a bit of love on that depressing and dark day when everything seems to go wrong. Whatever the reason for many people, cats have become the stalwart pet of many, as Mandy has become when someone is ill and needs her.
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