A cat that saved her diabetic owner’s life by alerting her partner with a bite is in the running for a top award.
Willow is among 12 finalists for the National Cat Awards run by the welfare charity Cats Protection.
Willow’s owner Amanda Jameson, 51, from Prescot, Merseyside, had gone to bed with low blood-sugar levels and lost consciousness.
The quick-thinking pet bit the leg of Amanda’s partner Ray Sherwood, 57, who was asleep in front of the TV, and paced around to wake him up.
Ray said: “It was very out of character for her and made me get up to see what all the fuss was about. She was running between me and the stairs, looking back at me. I followed her up the stairs and she kept looking back.”
“When I went into the bedroom, Willow jumped on the bed, and I could see Amanda slumped over. She was unresponsive and I called an ambulance straight away.”
Amanda was close to falling into a diabetic coma. She said: “Willow is amazing, I just think she’s incredible. Since I came home from hospital, she has become very protective of me.
“I’ve noticed how she puts her nose to my mouth a lot, I think she’s checking I’m breathing.”
Willow is in the awards’ Moggy Marvels category. She is alongside Dali, who was missing for a month before being found marooned on rocks in the Bradford Beck river, and Beau, who supports her owner David, who has incurable blood cancer.
The public has until June 30 to vote, with the winners – announced on July 17 – receiving a £200 pet store voucher.
Awards organizer Ashley Fryer said: “We’ve whittled down 3,000 entries to just 12 felines and we can’t wait to see who the public chooses.”
Hard-up dog and cat owners are avoiding trips to the vet. Twenty percent say another unexpected bill would mean parting with their pet.
Two-fifths of 2,065 quizzed for Co-op Insurance would go into debt to fund treatment. Andrew Nevitt, at the insurer, said almost half of owners have no pet insurance, meaning more “face heart-breaking decisions”.
