In a Rhode Island nursing home, a cat named Oscar became famous for choosing to lie beside patients shortly before they died. Other cat owners report their animals becoming unusually attentive during illness, pregnancy, pain or emotional distress. Cats can distinguish human odours and emotional cues, but could they also notice the physical changes that accompany serious illness or approaching death?
Cats routinely stare at spaces that appear empty, react to sounds nobody else hears and track movements their owners cannot see. Cultures from ancient Egypt to Japan have repeatedly given them a place near spirits, witches and the dead. Some of that reputation may come from something surprisingly concrete: a cat does not experience the same sensory world we do.
Cats hunted beside Egyptians, lived inside their homes, represented powerful gods and were carried to sacred cities after death. By the later periods of Egyptian history, they were being mummified in extraordinary numbers. What did the Egyptians see when they looked at a cat?
