'Spuds saved us from tragedy': Heroic cat in line for top award

UTV Spuds the hero cat
Spuds jumped into action on Christmas Eve 2019. Credit: UTV

He's the hero cat from County Armagh who could be about to be crowned a national winner. Spuds jumped into action on Christmas Eve 2019. With the timer set and the turkey in the oven, his owners had gone off to bed with dreams of a good Christmas to come. The first Brendan Curran knew something was wrong was when he was awoken by Spuds jumping on his chest.

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"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 took Spuds downstairs to put him outside but when he opened the kitchen door the room was filled with smoke. "I believe Spuds detected there was a serious issue about to happen and alerted us to it," Brendan.

All six members of the family, including a one-week-old baby all got out of the house safely. Spuds, a former stray, has now been nominated for a National Cat Award and his owners believe he would be a very worthy winner. "Cats Protection was appealing for special cats, and there's no doubt Spuds is a special cat. We're very grateful to him," said Brendan.

"We are in no doubt Spuds helped us avert another tragedy."

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