Feb. 17 (UPI) -- An Oregon family's rescue cat is being praised as a hero by her family after alerting the humans in the house to a gas leak that could have become dangerous.
Sandi Martin said she was playing at her Lake Oswego home with Lilly, the cat she recently adopted from Cat Adoption Team in Sherwood, when the feline started sniffing at a fireplace valve in a way that struck Martin as unusual.
"I went over and sniffed and there was a natural gas smell," Martin told KGW-TV. "It was very faint so I didn't really trust my nose. Then I asked my husband to sniff it, and he sniffed it, too."
The couple contacted NW Natural, their gas company, and they were told to shut off everything in the room, including their phones, and open all available windows and doors.
An employee from the company arrived about 20 minutes later and confirmed there was gas leaking from the fireplace.
"He came in and tested it and, in fact, he said it was a dangerous gas leak," Martin said. "So, then he tested all the other sources of gas and went outside and cut off the pipe to the gas there and capped it off and shut down the fireplace. She might have saved our lives."
Martin said Lilly has extra toes on her feet, a trait that is considered lucky in cats. She said the gas experience confirmed the feline's good fortune.