The better to squeeze your last dying breath out of you. Yeah, how sweet. Not!!!
You'll forgive if I don't get the details of the account completely right, but this reminds me of a story told where a woman took her python to the vet because it seemed to be refusing to eat. The vet asked if it was showing any hostility and she assured him, "not at all, in fact, it gets into bed and stretches out right beside me every night." The vet replied, "That is because he's sizing you up for a meal."