Aw man! I was just gonna post this! Except I was going to say that cats are angels of death or something.

What an amazing creature.

There are quite a few feral cats here in Hong Kong, (less than a few years ago), but they are pretty lean looking. They get fed by volunteers, usually retired women carting kibble.

This was the plot of an episode of House.

Real live death cat!

Goth Kitty loves the dead.

I think I've read about this cat before, it might have been in the local paper or something.
I don't know how I'd feel about that cat, if I were in the nursing home.

Oh death cat, oh death cat,
won't you spare me over til another year...

Is anyone counting the toes on the dead?

That was a good episode of House.

Oh death cat, oh death cat,
won't you spare me over til another year...

Best old-timey reference in Metachat EVER.

I think I've read about this cat before,

Apparently he was also famous a few years ago, when he had only sat with 25 dying people, and one of the doctors wrote it up for a medical journal. Some of the articles I found about him dated from 2007. And it was covered pretty widely.

My concern was for the cat. Is this cat OK? What is that like for him? Wouldn't that stress a cat out, not to bond with anyone, to experience so many deaths over and over?

Also, what about when no one's dying that day? What does the cat do? Does it freak everybody out if the cat just wants to sit in your lap while you're feeling fine? Do people fear the cat?

I remember reading about that cat too! But given that dogs can sniff out cancer, it's not so surprising.

(here's a couple of scientific articles to back up the news report)

How do we know the cat isn't actually the cause of death somehow?

Maybe he likes what he smells? The article says he's generally unsociable, so I don't think he jumps in someone's lap unless he really knows them.

I've had cats who liked petting, but once they were done, it was 'bite, scratch, run away'.

But yeah, on days when nobody dies, I dunno.

I wish I could favourite flapjax's comment. I LOL'd at that and now have the song (with the word 'cat' not 'death') stuck in my head.

My cats see dead people. Dead people who, it appears, hover on the ceiling. Sometimes both cats will sharply turn their heads, in unison, and look up at the same corner of the ceiling, following 'something' around the room with their eyes, always at ceiling height. Then whatever it is disappears (through the wall?), and, again both together, their gazes return to cat level and they resume their butt-licking or whatever they were doing before.

It freaks me the fuck out, particularly as it often happens when I'm reading in bed and they're both lying there with me. Then I have to put out the light and go to sleep with a ghost in the same room.

And it usually happens when there's no-one home upstairs, so it's not anyone walking about in the flat above. It's DEAD PEOPLE!!!

The (flat) world according to Terry Pratchett: Death is not invisible; however, most people's brains refuse to acknowledge him for who he is, unless he insists. Under normal circumstances, only those of a magical disposition (e.g. witches and wizards), children, and cats can see him, or allow themselves to see him.