Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat

Oscar was adopted into the Steere House, a nursing home in Rhode Island, when he was a kitten. He lived on a floor with patients with dementia (including Alzheimer's patients). Even as a kitten, he seemed able to sense when one of the residents was about to die. Although he wasn't usually overly friendly with people, if he sensed someone was going to die, he would go lie beside them and purr for hours, to keep them company and to provide support - support to both the patient and the family. This book, told by one of the doctors there, is more than Oscar's story - it tells the stories of the patients and their families and everything they are dealing with.

I first heard about Oscar a few years ago via a news story. I was excited when I show more found out a book about him was published. This was a fast, really enjoyable read. It wasn't only about Oscar; I learned a little more about dementia and what the people and their families go through. I thought there might be more tears in this one, but there weren't as many as I expected (though, of course, there were some). I can only hope there is cat by my side someday when I go. show less

Being a "cat person", slave to eight and master to none, this book was a perfect fit for me from the Early Reviewers program. I was very interested in reading a book about a cat with an almost supernatural gift to sense the impending deaths of Alzheimer's patients.

As extraordinary as Oscar is, and there are several testaments about his talent, he's just part of this story. The true point of the book is to reveal the heartbreaking experience of losing someone you love to dementia--to have to say goodbye to the person they were and to learn to love the person they become. There's no cure. There's very few treatments. There's no turning back. To paraphrase the book--While they're robbed of their memories, you're left only with yours.

The show more book is very emotional, filled with experiences from the author's medical practice, and I certainly shed a few tears. I feel it was good introduction to the disease, trying to take some of the mystery out of the process and emphasizing you're not alone. Whether you're a caregiver or a patient, it's okay to seek help.

Is Oscar a wunderkind? In my own personal experience, none of my cats have ever reacted in this way. At least, not to a human. However, I am convinced they are quite capable of predicting their own deaths. And they can feel grief. So, anything is possible.

Besides, it really isn't important whether Oscar is psychic or just has a sensitive enough sniffer to smell dying cells. What's important is dementia patients are still capable of enjoying interactions with animals. And the animals seem to help the families cope as well. So it's a "win-win" situation to have them in nursing homes.

In the end, given a choice between an ICU visit and the harsh reality of end stage treatments, or having a cat sit vigil at my bedside while I die, I agree with the author-I'm picking the cat.

**I admit my review is a bit biased. I'm a cat person. I can't help it. There were some odd word choices, some spelling errors and the scenes between the doctor and the head nurse were a bit amatuerish. Three times the doctor "rolled his eyes". Who rolls their eyes outside of fan fiction? Still, dementia is an important topic and I'm glad I read it. Here's to you Oscar. I'm glad you're on the job.** show less

Oscar really only makes up 20% of the book so if you're looking for a cat-centered story you may be disappointed. Mainly Dr. Dosa explores the impact of dementia and dementia care on families, and the need for empathy, love, and patience through the journey. You also realize the importance and need for quality medical care in this situation. Oscar's appearances are akin to his weaving in and out of your legs before going off to explore something else.

I loved geriatrician David Dosa’s 2007 essay about a cat in the New England Journal of Medicine -- Oscar the cat, who by then had seemingly predicted 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 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 show more 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 few 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 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.

(Review based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher.) show less

Despite the subtitle: “the Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat,” this is not a book about a cat. The tale of Oscar, the cat who senses when someone is dying, is an allegorical memoir of a doctor’s experiences working with elderly patients with dementia. It is an exploration of how families learn to cope with the disease. There are also a few jabs at the inability of modern health care to adequately cope with end of life care, and the lack of funding for medical facilities.

I found the writing to be sappy and overly optimistic, even condescending at times (when is it ever appropriate and respectful to refer to elderly patients as “children?”). But over-all it was a cute book that would go over well in women’s book clubs.

Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat by Dr. David Dosa is the doctor's perspective on the now famous cat, Oscar. As reported in the media, Oscar resides at the Steere House nursing home in Providence , Rhode Island. Somehow Oscar senses when a patient is in their last hours and he gets in bed with them and remains there until the end. When I first read about Oscar in the news I thought, well...that's nice that so many people believe in Oscar's powers and draw comfort from the notion. Any comfort for the person dying and for their family is a wonderful thing and it doesn't really matter if the cat has psychic powers or not. After finishing Dr. Dosa's book I now think this may be more than legend.

Oscar was show more adopted by the nursing home as a kitten, actually, they adopted a couple of kittens, Oscar & Maya, which I think is worth mentioning just because I love the names and the pun. The book details quite a few end of life vigils that Oscar has sat and the background stories of the clients he has accompanied on their final journey on this earth. In one case, the patient was taken to the hospital for extraordinary measures to save their life at any cost even though they were in the very late stage of the disease. Oscar went to the patient's room at Steere House any way, even though the guy wasn't there. Oscar sat on his empty bed and kept watch while the patient died at the hospital across the street.

Dr. Dosa shares with us a little of the perspective from the institution's caregivers. These special people go to work every day and care for their clients who are slowly unlearning everything they ever knew. This is very special work with unique challenges and those who do it well are invaluable in my opinion. One special caregiver at Steere House is Mary Miranda, day shift nurse. When a client's angry family member has been complaining that his slippers were stolen Mary explains to Dosa that "...I've worked here for almost ten years, and at a lot of other nursing homes before that. At this point in my career, I can pretty much put every family member I meet into one of four categories: those who are angry, those who feel guilty, those who are afraid and those who are all three. We try to work with everyone to eventually accept this... In time most of them do. Sometimes we just can't get them to accept this reality quickly enough." This reality that Mary is talking about is that a person with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia, has a progressive disease. While they may have lucid moments at times, they still have the disease and it is irreversible. They are slowly (and sometimes not so slowly) unlearning every thing they ever knew. This is especially hard on the family for they have known this person for many years and at some point, the essence of who that person is to them disappears, they are no longer the person they knew. In the After Word, Dr. Dosa offers some advise to the family of folks with dementia. "Celebrate the little victories but see the big picture. Those that cope best with terminal progressive illnesses such as dementia are people who gain satisfaction from a little victory without losing the larger perspective." It is hard to do but one must accept the reality of the disease, the fact that it is not possible to get better from it or cure it.

This book is an excellent read for anyone who is going through losing a loved one to dementia. If you have a parent or spouse or anyone you care deeply for that is leaving earth through this path, or even if you think you may one day, this book offers a gentle and comforting discussion about what to expect. And Oscar is truly amazing and very special. show less

Yes, this is about a cat with an uncanny sense for when people are about to die. But it is far more about the realities of the way Alzheimer's affects patients and those around them. For those of us who know someone with Alzheimer's, this is very, very hard to read. We don't want to admit that our nutty mother, happy-go-lucky sister, capable father, etc. will eventually "unlearn" even our names and that they will die not remembering how to even walk. Far from being an omen of ill favor, Oscar thus becomes a welcome way for families to know when there really is a downturn in people who never seem to get better. And he is a comfort to patients, family members and caregivers alike. This is an excellent book, but be prepared to feel upset show more and thoughtful during and after reading. And then go visit the person you know with Alzheimers because it is meaningful for you to be there, even if they don't seem to know it. show less