Stroking her pet moggy Smokey, Pam Cann can’t imagine life without her feline friend – and without her, she literally wouldn’t be alive.
One evening in September 2018, Pam was suffering severe nosebleeds. The last thing she remembers is feeling a little light-headed before collapsing. She was close to passing out completely when Smokey sprang into action.
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Soaring from her favourite spot on the windowsill to Pam’s bed, the long-haired domestic kitten began repeatedly headbutting Pam in the back.
“I was in such a daze I couldn’t even sit up, all I wanted to do was go to sleep,” Pam, 69, tells New Idea.
“But Smokey just wouldn’t stop nudging me, which she had never done before, and it stopped me from nodding off.”
Even though Pam was struggling to keep her eyes open, thanks to Smokey’s fearless actions, she mustered the energy to grab her phone and call an ambulance. By the time paramedics arrived, Pam’s organs had started shutting down and her body temperature was dropping rapidly.
“The paramedics told me if I’d fallen asleep, I would never have woken up,” Pam recalls.
“I’d always known Smokey was a special cat, but now I owe her my life.”
Pam’s terrifying health scare left her in hospital for three days. She was diagnosed with angiodysplasia of the colon which causes swollen, fragile blood vessels and can result in bleeding and blood loss.
With Pam back in good health, Smokey hasn’t left her side. Now 13, Smokey was just five weeks old when Pam adopted her.
“If I go away for the night then I take her along in my kitty cat bag,” Pam says. “She senses when I’m not feeling well and sits on my tummy and spends the night sleeping on the pillow beside mine. We’d always had a close bond, but it’s been stronger than ever since she saved my life.”
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Pam has since learnt from animal experts that Smokey would have been able to smell the changes in her body as it was shutting down.
“I’ll never forget what she did for me,” Pam adds.
“I just love her to death and no other cat will ever replace her. She really is my hero.”
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