Rescue Rescue cat returns the favor, acat returns the favor, alerts sleeping owner to apartment fire

[Judi Lynn]

Kate Collins, Ithaca Journal
Published 8:45 p.m. ET Oct. 29, 2019 | Updated 8:45 p.m. ET Oct. 29, 2019

ITHACA, N.Y. – About five years ago, Danielle Schafer rescued a kitten off the side of the road.

The kitten was just weeks old, the final, tiny litter-mate remaining in Schafer’s tender grasp after its feral siblings scurried away into roadside brush.

Last week, Kitty – as the gray, domestic short-haired cat female cat is affectionately known – rescued Schafer in return, pouncing her 12-pound body atop Schafer as she slept in her Lansing bedroom and alerting her to the flames spreading through the apartment walls.

A New York native, Schafer moved into her small, first-floor apartment in September when she relocated to Ithaca for her clinical year of vet school at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. The night before the fire, she readied her hospital scrubs, excited for her next rotation, and was asleep before midnight.

Around 2 a.m., Schafer was jolted awake by Kitty jumping on top of her and what sounded like battering rams at her door.



More:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/29/rescue-cat-returns-favor-alerts-sleeping-owner-apartment-fire/2503287001/

[3catwoman3]

1. Who's a good girl?

And a beautiful girl.

[tblue37]

2. K&R for the kitteh. nt

[spooky3]

3. Smart kitty, too. I have a less dramatic tale like this...

I've posted it on DU before. I had the most wonderful, loving ragdoll mix kitty. One night he woke me up and wouldn't relax, which was odd, so I went him to the kitchen to feed him, but he wasn't interested in eating. Instead he went to the basement, so I followed there, too, to find that my water heater was failing and spritzing water. If he hadn't persisted at just the right time, the basement would have been flooded with water before I knew what was happening. I still miss him.

[PSPS]

4. He corralled you! It's remarkable how they can do that.

Usually it's toward the food bowl or the door, but they can get you to go anywhere with their wily feline ways. I still think all cats are really just stationed here on earth -- like Nibbler.

[spooky3]

5. Yes! That night, his behavior was just so strange that I had to check out whatever

was bugging him. He was normally extremely laid back, and a fabulous "uncle" to many foster kittens over the years. I always thought he was all heart and no brains, but that night he clearly had enough brains to know what to do. He was a great kitty, and I will never forget him.

[Duppers]

6. Good Kitty.

I wonder if Kitty's mom has practiced her vet skills on Kitty, because, note Kitty's front L paw has been shaved.

Be well, live long, Miss Kitty.