Call it a sixth sense, a special connection, or just plain mystery. But whatever gift cats and dogs have that allows them to detect health conditions in their owners sure has been saving a lot of lives.
是第六感也好，是特殊的心有灵犀也好，或者只是一种普通的神秘力量。但无论猫猫狗狗怎样天赋让它们可以诊断主人的健康状况，这都是能挽救许多生命的超能量力。
Wendy Humphreys, a mother of two from Britain, found out first-hand how powerful that gift can be when her cat Fidge sniffed out a potentially fatal health condition that even doctors hadn't detected, the Daily Mail reports.
来自英国的温迪·汉弗莱已经是两个孩子的母亲，她亲身体会到了这种超能力是多么强大。据《每日邮报》报道，她养的一只名叫Fidge的猫猫嗅出了她身上潜藏的致命健康问题，而之前甚至连医生都没有诊断出来。
Bewildered at first, Humphreys was compelled to visit a physician after the 10-month-old cat began jumping on her breast and continued to do so for weeks on end.
当时汉弗莱的这只10个月大的猫猫总是向她的胸部扑过去，而且持续了好几周。汉弗莱起初还很困惑，后来被逼着去看了医生。
What doctors found astounded Humphreys: She had a malignant tumor in her breast about the size of a pea that could have metastasized if it hadn't been discovered early. She is now scheduled to undergo chemotherapy and credits Fidge with saving her life, according to the paper.
医生的发现让汉弗莱大吃一惊：她的胸部有一个豌豆大小的恶性肿瘤，如果发现晚了还有可能会转移。据报道，她现在已经安排好接受化疗，而且把Fidge视为她的救命恩人。
Studies have shown that dogs, too, can pick up on illnesses and physical ailments by detecting acute changes in people's smell. In a 2011 study, researchers in Japan conducted trials to see how well a dog could identify people with colorectal cancer. The dog had a 98 percent accuracy rate, NPR reported.
研究表明，狗狗也可以通过探测人类气味的重大变化来发现疾病和一些身体小状况。在一项2011年的研究中，日本的研究人员试图了解狗狗帮人类诊断直肠结肠癌的准确率。据国家公共电台报道，狗狗诊断的准确率高达98%。
Sometimes, however, animals' aptitude for detecting changes in humans defies scientific explanation. In 2006, a cat named Oscar confounded experts by "predicting" the deaths of a number of residents at a Rhode Island nursing home. Oscar would begin hanging around people days before they passed away, according to CBS News.
然而，有时动物诊断人类病变的才能却无法进行科学解释。2006年，一只名叫Oscar的猫“预言”了罗德岛一家私人疗养院里一些病人的死亡，这让专家们十分困惑。据哥伦比亚广播公司新闻报道，Oscar在这些病人去世前几天就开始围着他们转。
"Oscar is a normal cat with an extra-normal sense for death," Dr. Joan M. Teno, professor of community health at Brown and associate medical director of Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island, told the Boston Globe. "As a scientist, I want to offer a biological explanation for this," she said. "But I can't."
“Oscar是一只普通的猫，但它对于死亡却有着超常的感应，”布朗大学公共卫生教授、罗德岛家庭和临终关怀医疗顾问琼·M·特诺在接受《波士顿环球报》采访时说。“作为一名科学工作者，我试图对此给出一个生物学的解释，”她说。“但是我做不到。”
作者: catfelix 时间: 2012-3-13 07:04
Cat is human's friend or foe?
