Great story, cat saves family

[slvrwhispr]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17972624/?GT1=9246

This made me smile, and give my cat a hug. Animals are amazing, aren't they?

[momPaws]

That is something..will send it to my daughter. See Kitties are smart like dogs, too.

[LisaLisa]

That is great story and this family was so fortunate. I hope the family does not have any ill effects from the gas and they were rescued in time. It brought back some memories for me....this story has less than a happy ending.

Back around 1970, carbon monoxide like this was called "coal gas" My Grandmother worked for this family in the small town where I grew up. I was 10 years old and the adopted daughter/granddaughter of this family, so I was very close to them The Father come in from Philly one weekend in the fall with his 2 daughters, one who was 9 and the other was 11. The Father smelled gas in the house. I would assume that the smell was not very strong. My parents wanted them to stay at our house or stay at another home which they owned about 15 minutes away. The Father didn't think the smell of gas was going to be a problem and he opted to stay at the house. It turned out to be coal gas. Their dauschand "Fritzel" was barking crazily during the night and woke up the Father. He went into the bathroom and opened a window, vomited and then was into unconsciousness. The caretaker came to the house the next morning and found the family...The 11 year old daughter had passed away, the 9 year old daughter was still alive but died that night. The Father and Fritzel lived without any physical damage from the coal gas but a huge amount of mental anguish. It turned out that a bird had built a nest in the chimney and the carbon monoxide had backed up into the house. Apparently, this smell was present for some time but no one experienced problems. so this day didn't appear any diffrent than any other times. I always felt so terrible for the Father, that he had to live with this guilt for the next ~25 years. Our families remained very close and it took many years for my relationship with the Father to return to normal. I think about all of them frequently, especially when I visit my family and drive past the house where this all happened. I miss all of them but I cherish the memories and the fun times we all had together..

I do wonder how Fritzel managed to stay alive during this time, given he was so small compared to humans...Yes, animals are tuly amazing in so many ways...

Thanks for listening and sorry this is so long...

[k9Karen]

LisaLisa - So sorry to hear about the tragedy in your family. I can't even imagine having to go through what you've described!`

Animals are indeed amazing. I hope I never need to have something similar happen to me or a member of my family.

[LisaLisa]

Hi Karen, Thanks for your kind words. Although this was terrible for us, the real tragedy was with the Father as you can imagine...He was a good man in so many ways...

I do love the animal stories where our furbabies are our guardian angels. I didn't mean to take the thunder away from the original story of this amazing cat, it just brought back from memories me.