New Kensington woman says her cats saved her from carbon monoxide poisoning

NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. (KDKA) -- Can pets save the lives of their owners?

That's what Mary Beth Vantine says happened when she says she faced a certain death after turning on her furnace.

"It was cold," Mary Beth said, explaining how the incident began. "That's when the cold air started in. So, the cats were here, and I went and turned up the furnace."

The furnace could not turn on, according to her repairman, saying the furnace was quickly releasing deadly carbon monoxide throughout the house.

"(The cats) went wild. They were running back and forth, howling," Mary Beth added.

The apparent lifesaving cats, Skittles and Smitten, continued to exhibit strange behavior to Mary Beth.

"I'm thinking, 'My God, something is wrong here. I've never seen them act like that.' So, I shut the furnace off. And it takes a little while for it to shut off, and as soon as I shut it off, they calmed down," Mary Beth said.

As a final reflection on the incident, Mary Beth concludes, "If those cats weren't there, I would have put the furnace on, went back to bed, and that would have been the last time I would have fallen asleep, and it would have been permanent."

A 2019 Oregon State University study found cats can bond with their owners as much as a dog or a human infant to their parent.