Hero Cat Saves Owner from Heart Attack by Pounding Paws on Her Chest: 'Very Grateful'
Cats have nine lives, but one recently gave his owner a second chance at life.
During the early hours of Aug. 8, Sam Felstead, 42, suffered a heart attack while sleeping at home in Nottinghamshire, England, BBC reported on Tuesday. Her 7-year-old cat, Billy, seemingly noticed a change in his owner and began jumping on Felstead's chest and meowing as loud as he could.
"He doesn't normally sit with me but he knew something was wrong because he wouldn't leave me alone," Felstead recalled to the outlet. "I do think he saved my life and so does everybody else around me."
"I was a bit shocked; I went to bed and I felt fine. I'd even been out with [my] dogs, and I didn't feel ill or have any pains whatsoever," Felstead added to the India Times. "Suddenly I woke up in the early hours covered in sweat and couldn't move. Billy was on my chest and was meowing loudly in my ear hole."
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With Billy's efforts, Felstead woke up, realized she could not move on her right side and asked her mother Karen to help her get to a hospital.
"Mum was quite shocked. I told her [Billy] woke me up and she was even more shocked. You don't hear about that with cats," Felstead told the India Times.
"The doctors said it was a good job I got to hospital in time," she added to BBC.
Felstead stayed in the hospital for three days and underwent an angioplasty. Now on heart medication, she's back to work as a receptionist at Queen's Medical Center in Nottingham.
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Feline behaviorist Lucy Hoile spoke to BBC about what Billy could have been thinking at the moment.
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"It could be that the fact he jumped on her and was meowing was a sign of his anxiety," she said to the outlet, adding that the cat probably noticed some physiological changes in his owner.
"I do believe he probably did save her life," the expert stated, "because that's what enabled her to get medical help." She continued, "I wouldn't go down the route of saying he did it on purpose. It was him reacting to the situation."
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According to Felstead, Billy does not seem too bothered about the whole ordeal. "When I came out of hospital he wouldn't go near me for a good few hours, whether I smelt funny from coming out of the hospital I don't know," she told BBC.
"I don't think he has one bit of a clue what's happened," she added. "As long as I feed him, he's not bothered."
