A cat has been hailed a hero by his grateful owner after he pounded his paws on her chest to wake her up when she suffered a heart attack.
Sam Felstead, 42, was asleep when she was woken by her seven-year-old cat Billy at 4.30am on 8 August – and she quickly realised she was unable to move her body and had a shooting pain down her right side.
Ms Felstead, from Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, called out to her mum Karen for help and she rushed her to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.
Doctors told her she had suffered a mild heart attack in her sleep and Ms Felstead credits Billy’s swift actions for saving her life.
She said: “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.
“He was really meowing. He doesn’t do that normally, he sleeps all day and all night, that’s his life.
“He wouldn’t leave me. He’s not a lap cat. He’s not a light cat either and he’s certainly not a cat that wants to be on your knee all the time. He likes to be alone.
“He’s never woken me up in the night before, he never bothers you. He doesn’t wake you up for food…
“I’m just glad he woke me up. Who knows if I would have got up without him, it could’ve been worse for me.”
Cat behaviour expert Lucy Hoile said Billy may have picked up on physiological changes in Sam.
She said: “It could be that the fact he jumped on her and was meowing was a sign of his anxiety.
“I do believe he probably did save her life, because that’s what enabled her to get medical help, but I wouldn’t go down the route of saying he did it on purpose.
“It was him reacting to the situation.”
Ms Felstead, whose heart attack was a result of one of her arteries being blocked, was given medication and sent home to rest for six weeks after a three-day stay at hospital.