Making Rounds With Oscar

[emilymaywilcha]

I just got this book today. It was used but advertised as "like new." Other Amazon buyers rated it very high, but that is not necessary when the book is about an extraordinary cat with an unusal gift. There are no pictures inside but the brown and white tabby with a stocky body and long tail is adorable.

I first read about Oscar in my local newspaper. Another reader criticized the Steere House for having a feline resident. He was rebutted: What is a bigger problem, cat allergies or people dying? I never forgot that, so when I saw the book on Amazon while looking for something else, all I could do was add it to my wish list.

I used to work in a nursing home for two years that had a cat. That kitty was just like ours, nothing more special than a regular house cat. So I can only wonder how in the world Oscar knows better than the doctor when a resident will die and hope to learn how it is possible.

Maybe after reading this book, I will name a brown and white tabby Oscar.

 

[jcat]

It's a mystery, isn't it?

I really enjoyed that book, not only because it told Oscar's story, but also offered some insights into Alzheimer's, which my mother had.

 

[tarasgirl06]

So true!  Even allopathic (Western, symptom-based) doctors are now coming out and admitting that cats, more than any other living beings, help human health in many ways, including strengthening our bones, lowering our blood pressure, keeping depression away, and providing the kind of friendship that just can't be found anywhere else, with anyone else.  The presence of cats helps many otherwise hopeless people to focus on the positive, the loving, the warm and the affectionate.  All ages of people sure need that, don't they?!!

 

[emilymaywilcha]

Dogs are still used more than cats as therapy animals, but more and more cats are getting that kind of job in hospitals and nursing homes. I wish all of America's nursing homes had cats because they are the loneliest people and sometimes the sickest too.

Before I started reading I showed Patricia the picture of another cat on the front cover. She went BONKERS! It was like she knew Oscar lol. I removed the jacket (got a hardcover copy), but she remembers the black book is the one with a cat on the front and still goes crazy when I put it on my bed and take the bookmark out. It's like she knows it is about a cat. You would think Emily or Wilbur was the cat on the front cover! She also made a bookmark a toy, so I took a picture of her with the fabric knot in her mouth.

 

[emilymaywilcha]

It's a mystery, isn't it?
I really enjoyed that book, not only because it told Oscar's story, but also offered some insights into Alzheimer's, which my mother had.

Dr, Dosa also gives us insight on how hard it is to say, "Your wife is going to die soon anyway, so treating her is wasting our time." I would not want to be a geriatrician if I went to medical school!

My aunts husband has early stage Alzheimer's disease too.

 

[tarasgirl06]

 

[emilymaywilcha]

Can anyone explain Patricia's behavior toward that book after I showed her the picture of Oscar?

 

[mani]

Can anyone explain Patricia's behavior toward that book after I showed her the picture of Oscar?

I know this is a really old thread, but I revisited this book recently - a book group that a friend set up had 'Dewey' as the first book.  I really didn't like it, for all sorts of reasons, and suggested that people read this book as I felt it really had something to say, on many levels.

As for Patricia, it is unusual in my experience for cats to recognise two-dimensional images, although that can change, depending on their mood, I've found (mirrors, the computer, TV etc can provoke different responses at different times)  But a book cover is an interesting one.  I think there are many many things that our rational mind cannot explain, and I think this may be one of them

But isn't it great to think that remarkable things happen even if we don't understand them!

 

[jiskefet]

Maybe the explanation is more profane than you think....

The book was second-hand, you say. It may have been owned by another cat lover, maybe someone who lived with a number of cats, and the scent of cats may still be on the book.

I know that strange cats will go beserk over my clothes, handbag and other possessions, simply because, with 8 cats in the house, everything I own smells of cats to them.

 

[mani]

Maybe the explanation is more profane than you think....

The book was second-hand, you say. It may have been owned by another cat lover, maybe someone who lived with a number of cats, and the scent of cats may still be on the book.

I know that strange cats will go beserk over my clothes, handbag and other possessions, simply because, with 8 cats in the house, everything I own smells of cats to them.

Good point, jiskefet.