A family-of-four owe their lives to a kitten after the four-month-old Thor woke them up alerting them to the build up of deadly carbon monoxide.
The lethal gas had built up after a power outage caused the Stamper family 's garage door to close while a portable generator was running inside.
Heidi Stamper, from Oakland, Michigan, woke up to the loud cries from Thor and noticed it was acting sick.
After taking the cat outside its condition improved but when the went back inside the house she fainted.
The kitten continued to cry which woke up children Paige, 13, and Quinn, 11, who were able to drag their “semi conscious” parents out of the house, according to reports.
Thankfully the entire family survived after the Farmington Hills Fire Department arrived at the scene and rushed them to a hospital. Heidi and her two children were the flown to the Promedica Hospital in Toledo for specialised care.
The incident happened on August 30, according to local media reports.
Fire Chief Jon Unruh added: “The Fire Department reminds everyone that generators should NEVER be used inside homes, garages, basements, sheds or any other enclosed or partially enclosed spaces.
“In this case, using a portable generator in an enclosed garage almost had deadly consequences.”
Since the near-deadly incident both the family and their neighbours have installed carbon monoxide alarms in their homes.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the Stamper family to help them cover their medical fees.
They say dogs are man's best friend but for many cats are the best companion.
A homeless woman moved into her car rather than give up on her cats.
Sharon Crandall moved to Kerry, Ireland, 22 years ago from the US and parked up along Dingle beach for two months.
The 54-year-old has refused to take up an offer of emergency accommodation because she would have to give up her two cats.
She described her pets as her "family" and would not budge on refusing to abandon them.
But she added life in her car - which began on July 8 - is "up and down, it's hard".
Sharon has all of her belongings in the boot and sleeps on a duvet on the backseat.
Her cats' food bowls are on the dashboard, while she stores her supplies in a cool box.
She said a few days ago she had to wait two hours until a "monsoon" calmed down so she could run around the car and get into the back to go to sleep.
