At first, she thought her cat jumping on her chest was just an odd behaviour — until ER visit revealed it was a life-saving warning

Once in a while, heroes come with whiskers and unexpected instincts.

PUBLISHED 6 HOURS AGO

(L) A pet cat lying on her owner's chest. (R) A woman in the hospital. (Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | (L) Thirawatana Phaisalratana, (R) Thomas Northcut)

Sometimes, help comes from the most unexpected places. Pets have long been credited with sensing danger, but one cat’s unusual behavior may have gone a step further. As reported by the New York Post, a woman believed her pet cat helped save her life after a frightening medical emergency in the middle of the night.

A doctor showing reports to a patient. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | MoMo Productions)

Sam Felstead, 42 at the time, was fast asleep on August 8, 2022, when her 7-year-old cat, Billy, suddenly jumped on her chest around 4:30 a.m. and loudly meowed into her ear. The noise woke her, and that is when she realized something was seriously wrong. “Suddenly I woke up in the early hours covered in sweat and couldn’t move...and had really bad back pain and my right side felt really heavy and strange,” she told South West News Service. She described sharp pain down her right side and dizziness that made it nearly impossible to stand. Billy, who is usually quiet and distant, would not leave his owner's side.

A cat lying on its owner's chest. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Somsri Luangsod)

Concerned, Felstead called out to her mother, Karen, for help. Emergency services said there would be a two-hour wait for an ambulance, so her mother drove her to the hospital. There, doctors confirmed she had suffered a mild heart attack and that one of her arteries was blocked. She was treated with an angioplasty, where a balloon is used to open up the artery, and was kept in the hospital until August 11.

A woman hugging her pet cat. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Westend61)

When she returned home, Billy’s response was less than dramatic. “He completely ignored me,” Felstead said, adding that he didn’t seem to grasp the crucial role he had played. Still, she remained thankful. “I’m grateful towards him as I didn’t know if I’d have woken up,” she said. The doctors also informed her that her pet's intervention had actually brought her to the hospital on time and saved her life. Her alarm wasn’t set to go off for another two hours, and she believed Billy’s behavior gave her the critical time needed to get medical help. “I do think he saved my life, and so does everybody else around me.”

A middle-aged woman having back pain. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Tatsiana Volkava)

Animal behavior expert Lucy Hoile told the BBC that Billy’s reaction may have been less about heroism and more about instinct. “It could be that the fact he jumped on her and was meowing was a sign of his anxiety,” she explained. According to Cats.com, when people become ill, the chemical changes in their bodies, including shifts in hormone levels, can be detected by cats, who are highly sensitive to such changes.

Nurse helping patient during check-up. (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Tom Werner)

While Felstead believed Billy’s actions likely helped lead to medical care, she didn’t think the cat understood what was happening. "Whilst it's easy to believe this was a deliberate act of altruism, correlation does not equal causation; therefore, it was unlikely to be deliberately saving her life," Hoile said. She further pointed out that cats are not typically associated with intentional life-saving behavior. Still, for Felstead, the outcome spoke for itself, whether her cat knew what he was doing or not.