24 Times Cats Surprised Humans With Their Heroic Acts

When Obninsk city resident Irina heard the communal cat meowing, she definitely expected something along the lines of "the poor critter is hurt" and definitely not what she found when investigating the noise. Turns out, Masha (the cat) came across a baby boy abandoned in a cardboard box and immediately responded as if he was her own. She climbed into the box to keep the infant warm all while meowing to draw people's attention that something was amiss. The baby was quickly transported to the hospital where it was determined that he was healthy and in perfect shape. As for Masha? She was hailed a local hero and showered with affection and numerous offerings of her favorite food.

In 1996 a fire broke out in an abandoned garage in Brooklyn, New York City. When The New York City Fire Department arrived and quickly put out the fire, everyone was glad that no people were injured. It was only after the flames were gone, one of the firefighters, David Giannelli, noticed a cat carrying tiny kittens away from the garage, one by one. The cat, who was later named Scarlett, was severely burned and her horrible injuries were described in detail: "her eyes were blistered shut, her ears and paws burned, and her coat highly singed [,] the majority of her facial hair had been burnt away". Despite the pain, the firefighters observed the feline mother pat each kitten with her nose to ensure they were all there as the blisters on her eyes prevented the cat from seeing. After Scarlett and her kittens made a recovery they were quickly adopted by 3 families. Scarlett became an international star and received attention from media all over the world as people were in awe at her bravery. Scarlett, unfortunately, passed away in 2008, but her story lives on through many children's and non-fiction books written about her.

When a 5-year-old Ethan was surrounded by some boys giving him a hard time, his mother, who noticed her son being pushed to the ground through the window, was on her way to the door to investigate. However, once she reached the front yard she witnessed their 4-year-old kitty, Smudge sprint into action and hiss and paw at the bullies. "I happened to find this younger boy laid on his back on my lawn in tears with a cat sat on his belly!," Ethan's mother, Sarah Fenton explained. As the bullies learnt their lesson and ran away defeated, Smudge was named a hero by his family.

The security camera footage that went viral a few years ago shows a dog approaching an unaware boy before violently biting him and dragging the child off his bike. Seconds after the action took a horrible twist, in comes Tara, the family cat, and charges the attacker, body-slamming the canine off the 4-year-old Jeremy. As soon as Tara chased off the neighbor's dog she dashes back to the boy to check up on him. Jeremy needed 10 stitches, but made a beautiful recovery, owing a big thanks to Tara, whom he called his hero. Scrappy, the dog who attacked Jeremy, was later put down as he was deemed dangerous.
Tara has later received numerous awards for her heroic actions including Special Award For Cat Achievement and "Hero Dog" award.

Cats not only have keen senses that aid them in hunting, they can also feel things that can't be noticed by humans. One of such things saved Sue McKenzie's life back in 2014. When Tom, the feline that's been with her for two decades, changed his behavior from aloof to constantly tapping the back of her neck and meowing, Sue was annoyed at first. However, as the cat kept being persistent, the owner decided to get the area checked. The doctors soon discovered that she had a cancerous lump under her skin called Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. As soon as McKenzie visited doctors, Tom returned to his usual aloof self. The woman received treatment for her cancer and was later declared cancer-free.

Humans aren’t the only ones that pets are heroes to. Judy Godfrey-Brown of Holyhead, North Wales is the owner of a brown Labrador Retriever named Tervel who is suffering from cataract. Because of this, he would often hit things and get hurt, which lead him to become reluctant to move outside of his doggy bed. One day, Judy took in a stray cat, Pwditat, who did not get along with other cats, but immediately took a liking to Tervel. It was as if Pwditat had a sixth sense of his blindness and took upon himself to snuggle with Tervel and use his paws to guide him around the house and outside.

Jessi-cat isn’t the only hero cat to have a book written about her. Homer, the blind black house “wonder cat” also had his life eternalized in book form. The story goes that Gwen Cooper rescued a blind kitten that had its eyes removed due to a serious infection. She named the cat after the blind Greek author Homer. One night Cooper woke up to Homer, who is generally an easy-going cat, stood up and hissing at a burglar in her room. Homer then jumped at the intruder, viciously scratching and biting him, making him flee the scene. Inspired by this, Gwen later wrote a memoir about his heroic deed and life.

Amy Jung took her son Ethan to the Door County Humane Society shelter in Wisconsin to play with the cats. She wasn’t planning on adopting any of them, but ended up going home with two: Wimsy and Pudding. That night, Amy experienced a diabetic seizure, when Pudding jumped to swat and nibble on her nose in hopes of waking her up. Once conscious, Amy struggled to call out for her son Ethan, but he was dead asleep. Pudding reacted to his owner’s cry for help and ran to wake Ethan up. He was able to provide the necessary medical attention. After the incident, Amy registered Pudding as a service animal and now goes everywhere with him.

Sgt. Jesse Knott was stationed in Hutal, Afghanistan, in a military base that was also home to a handful of stray cats. One particular cat, Koshka, stood out to Knott with his infectious personality and playfulness. Sgt. Knott bonded with Koshka, nursing his wounds and serving as his protector against the harsh culture of animal cruelty in the area. One day, two of Sgt. Knott’s men were killed in a suicide attack, after which he spiraled into depression and began struggling with suicidal thoughts. It got so bad that he started planning his own suicide. Koshka had a feeling that something was wrong and wouldn’t let Sgt. Knott be alone with his thoughts by purring, rubbing its head against him, and patting the sergeant's face with his paw. Just like Sgt. Knott was protecting Koshka from abuse, so was Koshka protecting him from his own thoughts. When it was time for the troops to return home, Sgt. Knott could not leave the cat behind to live a life of inevitable abuse, so he organized to take Koshka with him. Koshka now lives with Sgt. Knott’s parents in Oregon city, with Knott visiting him frequently.