Making Rounds with Oscar

Making Rounds with Oscar by David Dosa, M.D.  225 pp.

This is a true story about a not particularly friendly nursing home cat who has the uncanny ability to know when a patient is dying and then lays with the person until the body is removed from the room. The doctor who wrote it was highly skeptical about Oscar's 'talent' but when he investigated further, by talking to the nursing home staff and the family members of the former patients, he gradually comes to believe in Oscar and is grateful for what he does for the families who are losing their loved ones (mostly Alzheimer's/dementia patients). Oscar is only one of the cats residing at that particular home but he is the only one who performs his particular duty. This is one of the few books I've read straight through in one sitting...well almost...I fell asleep in the wee hours and then finished it this morning. While it sounds like a depressing book, I was only brought to tears once.

Oscar's actions reminded me very much of my own cats when I was going through cancer treatment many years ago (13-1/2 but who's counting). Every afternoon I would lay down to rest/nap and/or watch Jeopardy on t.v. My two cats, Jazz the Siamese, and Maddie the 6 month old would both join me on the bed--one on each side of me. At the time the two did not get along very well and only chose to share the bed when I was there in the afternoon. My husband would come home from work to find "his girls" on the bed and would ask the cats "Are you taking good care of Mom?" He was convinced that was what they were doing. I guess I am too.