Cat Gives Her Life to Save Her Human From a House Fire

Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/rescue-story-abigail/

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This “tail” is not a totally happy one.

A friend of ours, Nana Liz, was gifted with a beauty of a feline from the local shelter. Abigail was her name, and she was a sweet love of a cat. Abigail hit it off right away with Liz. They enjoyed quiet days playing, or sitting on the couch together.

abigail1 - Cat Gives Her Life to Save Her Human From a House Fire — CAT. PHOTO: PIXABAY / ANNALISA IDELER

Approximately five months after Abigail came to live with Liz, she began alerting Liz to noises she was hearing in the walls. Liz looked around, checking in the basement and throughout the house, thinking she was going to locate a mouse that might have been freeloading for the winter. Finding nothing, Liz and Abigail went to bed.

In the early morning hours, Abigail frantically woke Liz and was VERY insistent that Liz wake up. The noise Abigail and Liz had heard was the beginning of an electrical fire that has since been determined to have started in an outside plug on the porch. Liz woke up to the house already filled with thick smoke but was able to feel her way to the door and make her way next-door to her daughter’s home. Tragically, Abigail did not survive. She woke her friend but ran to hide before Liz could grab her. This was during an extremely cold winter in New England, and the condition outside was getting icy. Liz is pretty spry, but navigating from her home to her daughter’s is slow going under normal conditions.

Abigail bravely saved Liz’s life, and not a day goes by without one of us thanking her either silently or verbally. Liz frequently pauses at the picture of Abigail hanging on her daughter’s fridge, then sighs and moves on. Liz is slowly rebuilding now but misses her Abby daily. When you read the many pleas to adopt shelter animals, that they have a lot to offer, you never expect it could be literally life-changing. Thank you Abigail, you will never be forgotten by this family. We will always be grateful for your sacrifice.