10. The Cat Super Thief

No, NOT “Cat Burglar”. That joke’s more over-done than a steak tossed into an active

volcano.

Despite their sometimes-diabolical nature, cats usually won’t steal anything inedible.

That makes the spree of Dusty in San Mateo County, California all the more bizarre. Since

2007, he went around to neighbors’ houses and stole over 600 things, mostly articles

of clothing. The news reported a predilection for stealing entire ensembles instead of just,

say, one stray sock. The cat’s owner has taken to setting up lost-and-found boxes for

the owners of the stolen goods. Given that this apparently has allowed the cat to get

away with it, thieves the world over will soon be kicking themselves for not trying

that with the goods they stole.

9. Cat > Black Bear

Some cat owners refuse to have their cats de-clawed because they fear it will leave

the cat defenseless against other animals. There is anecdotal evidence, though, that

being de-clawed will not inhibit the cat’s willingness to get in trouble by picking a

fight. So it was in 2006-era West Milford, New Jersey, that a de-clawed orange tabby

named Jack chased a black bear (that presumably had claws) up a tree to keep it out of his

yard. That bear is probably still in therapy after all the abuse from other bears.

8. Cat Saves Baby’s Life

Now here’s the sappiest story ever to involve a cat and a baby. In April 2006, outside a

home in Cologne, Germany, a cat began making exactly the sort of racket we mentioned in

the introduction to this article. When the homeowners went down to investigate, they

found an abandoned baby along with the cat. The baby would have experienced life-threatening

hypothermia if it had been left there until morning. No trace of the parents was reported,

and it’s highly unlikely the cat was able to adopt the baby.

7. Cat > Bunch of Pit Bulls

Pit Bull packs are well-known to be a threat worthy of S.W.A.T. Teams, but occasionally

a cat is all you have handy to deal with them. Very occasionally, that’s enough. Few people

have learnt that lesson better than 97-year-old Harrison, Michigan resident Sophie Thomas

in 2010. A group of four pit bulls attacked her in her yard while she was gardening and

bit her enough to make her fear for her life. Then her cat, aptly named Tiger, jumped into

the middle of the dogs and led them away from Thomas. When the dogs were gone, she went

into her home and washed her wounds, thinking the dogs would kill Tiger. But before long

the cat came back, unharmed, and likely was unbearably smug for quite awhile.

6. Disappearing Dixie

We all know about how independent cats are as pets, but Dixie the cat takes that to new

extremes. This Birmingham, England feline was reported dead to her owners in 1999 from

a car accident, but the body was never found. This was because the cat was not dead and

went off on her own for nine years, which is most of an average cat’s lifespan. Between

that time and being returned to its owners in 2008, she did not go feral, with the owners

reporting that Dixie was essentially the same as when she left. That’s pretty much a dead

giveaway Dixie had made some kind of arrangement to “disappear” for some time.

5. Can’t Kill This Cat With Fire

Cats don’t just save babies from the cold or old ladies from pit bulls. Sometimes they

save themselves from fires that devastate the home they’re hiding in. In the case

of a firestorm survivor named Chase, his method of survival was to hide behind a stove. Can

you imagine how horrifying that would have been? A vacuum cleaner scares my cat to death.

I can’t imagine what would happen if the stove was turned on.

4. Cat > Alligators

This 2010 video from Louisiana may well be the most negligent one of a cat ever shot.

With their American Shorthair facing off against an alligator, the owners just stood there

laughing and recording the confrontation. Sure, it wasn’t a very big alligator, but

it’s still a damned alligator. Also, when it received backup from another alligator,

they had enough collective jaw power to take the cat out in one bite. But what’s really

unforgivable, is how the other cat is just standing too far back to be of any help, while

another member of its species has to stand up to two alligators.

3. Cat Calls 9-1-1

The third and, by far, best story of 2006 just goes to show something awesome was happening

to the cats in the world that year. In this particular story, a Columbus, Ohio resident

named Gary Rosenhein was suffering a heart attack when 9-1-1 emergency services received

a call. When they arrived, they found Tommy the cat by the phone. Emergency services reported

that it could only have been Tommy who somehow dialed 9-1-1 to get help for his owner. The

probability of this was helped a bit by Tommy only having to hit one speed dial button,

which is still one more than you’d ever expect a cat to be able to pull off under

the circumstances.

2. Soviet Cats Go to War

Starting in September, 1941 after the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, they put the city

of Leningrad under siege. This was a city of three million people, and the incredibly

destructive siege would continue until 1944. Food ran dangerously short, and rats posed

a severe threat to the city’s survival. So the Red Army dispatched 5,000 cats from

the surrounding areas, presumably only letting them eat whatever rats they could find. The

operation was rated a major success and statues of the cats went up around the city.

1. Cat Saves Owner on Day of Adoption

If you get a cat with the hope that someday it will save your life and get you onto the

local news, realize it’ll probably take a long time before that actually happens.

Still, some who adopt cats luck out majorly like Amy Jung of Sturgeon’s Bay, Wisconsin.

She had a diabetic shock in her sleep one night in February 2012, the same day she’d

adopted two cats. One of them, named Pudding, woke Jung by first meowing in her face and

then nipping it. When her son didn’t respond to her cries for help, Pudding went to him

and woke him up so he could call for emergency services. Hopefully, having more than earned

his keep on day one, his name was changed to literally anything but “Pudding.”