Hub-bub, Sharon? I thought it was a discussion of a news article that raises some interesting ideas.

BTW if I coughed suddenly, my cat would probably run out of the room too. Loud noises will do that. Nothing to do with what I was talking about. I know what I've experienced with my cats. Although you apparently have a cat, from your last two posts it comes across to me that you don't like them very much. If you think they are so self-serving, why do you have one?

From the article you linked to (which I had read earlier):

Within a half hour the family starts to arrive. Chairs are brought into the room, where the relatives begin their vigil. The priest is called to deliver last rites. And still, Oscar has not budged, instead purring and gently nuzzling Mrs. K. ............... Thirty minutes later, Mrs. K. takes her last earthly breath. With this, Oscar sits up, looks around, then departs the room so quietly that the grieving family barely notices.

So you really think he wouldn't settle in a room with one visitor, yet with a lot of people coming in and moving chairs around, he insisted on staying out of "stubbornness"? Your assumptions sound like more of a stretch than what these people, including doctors and nurses, have observed and believe is true. Your criticisms of the nursing home seem rather unfair too, based on the story you read and nothing more.

Are you really that much of a cynic, or are you enjoying being "devil's advocate"?