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Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift Of An Ordinary Cat (2009)

by David Dosa(Favorite Author)

3.96 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1401323235 (ISBN13: 9781401323233)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Hachette Books

review 1: As a cat lover as well as a lover of nonfiction I heard about this cat in a couple of articles before I read it on my then new Kindle.It was very touching, especially because the author was not a cat lover when he met Oscar. I loved it, My Mother loved it and she even hunted down and sent a hard copy of it translated in Spanish to my Aunt who was caring for her husband, my Uncle, as he continued to decline in health due to the ravages of Alzheimers. My Aunt loved it, she cried, which in all fairness she does often, and even got some insight into what the future might hold for her family as the disease continued. An incredible book for animal lovers or anyone who loves a great true story with no real explanation for Oscar's impeccable timing.
review 2: I've read... more magazine/newspaper articles about animals that can sense when someone is ill or about to die, and perhaps some of them were about Oscar, a cat who lives in a Rhode Island nursing home and has a sense of when the life of one of the residents on his floor is coming to an end. Written by staff physician Dosa, 'Making Rounds' tells of the doctor's own journey from skeptic to believer. While Dosa believes that the presence of animals on the unit is beneficial to his patients, all of whom have Alzheimer's or similar dementias and may find the cats, birds, and rabbits reminiscent of animals who lived with them many years ago, Oscar doesn't strike him as particularly friendly. Actually, Oscar does strike Dosa, literally, which contributes to the doctor's initial assessment.However, when staff nurse Mary, calls Dosa on the phone to tell him that one of his patients has passed away, and Oscar was in the room with her at the time, she also reminds him that Oscar has also been in the rooms when other patients have died. Mary encourages him to talk to some of those patients' family members as well as observe Oscar's behavior to perhaps change his opinion of the cat.I enjoyed Dosa's pacing of the book in that Oscar and Mary were constants, as were a few of the residents of the nursing home. My favorite person was Ira, a lady from another floor, who was not visited by Oscar, but gives Dosa perspective on what really matters. When most of the other patients either die or become an unrecognizable version of their former self, Ira's presence reminds readers that nursing home residents are still people with something important to say.Each patient's story hit home a little bit, having just lost my mother last year. While she had brain cancer and not dementia, Dosa's conversations with the family members and their experiences reminded me of my own experience. I don't particularly recall my dog's response to my mother's illness nor even where he was the night she passed away, but I think he knew something was wrong. I'm sure many authors, particularly ones as well-educated as Dosa, could elaborate upon the scientific basis for Oscar's behavior, but I like that Dosa kept it simple and just told the stories from the perspectives of the family, the nursing home staff, and himself. less

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