Former stray who saved family-of-six from house fire challenges for top cat award

A former stray has been nominated for a national cat award after he heroically saved a family of six from a house fire.

Spuds, from Newry, County Down, is a finalist in the Most Caring Cat category, with the winner set to be named on Thursday.

Brendan Curran, Spuds’ owner, told how the cat sprung into action on Christmas Eve, in 2019, to warn his family of smoke that had filled the kitchen.

Everyone was in bed with the turkey in the oven when the kitchen began to fill with smoke and Brendan says that his cat avoided a “tragedy”.

He told how unusually the cat jumped onto his chest as he slept and eventually woke him up.

Spuds jumped on his owner's chest to warn him of smoke in the kitchen (PA)

"In my sleep I sort of pushed off this thing and he again jumped back onto my chest," said Brendan. "It was totally out of character," Brendan told ITV.

Mr Curran got out of bed and went downstairs to let the cat go outside. It was when he opened the kitchen door he saw the room was full of smoke.

"I believe Spuds detected there was a serious issue about to happen and alerted us to it," Brendan said.

Spuds’ actions helped all the six members of the family, including a one-week-old baby, to get out of the house before the fire took hold.

And his family have put him forward for the National Cat Awards.

Mr Curran said that Spud acted out of character by jumping on him at night (UTV)

"Cats Protection was appealing for special cats, and there's no doubt Spuds is a special cat. We're very grateful to him," Brendan reportedly said.

"We are in no doubt Spuds helped us avert another tragedy. I believe that Spuds detected that there was a serious issue about to happen and alerted us to it."

Brendan told how Spuds "came to us as a stray and didn’t trust the family, we think he was abused" while it took several months for him to come round to them.

The fact that Spuds keeps himself to himself is the reason why Brendan feels it was so special that he alerted the family to the danger.

Spuds is a former stray who needed time to bond with the family (UTV)

"He comes to us for food and that’s about the height of the relationship, said Spuds' owner. "He's not very demanding, he’s his own man and just a real character."

In Spuds' bio for the awards voting, Cats Protection says: "Former stray Spuds may have saved the lives of six people - including a newborn baby - when he raised the alarm as deadly smoke engulfed the family home on Christmas Eve.

"The quick-thinking puss repeatedly leapt on owner Brendan’s chest to wake him after dripping fat from the turkey, which had been cooking overnight, created plumes of smoke."