Cat gets kudos for killing rabid bat in home

OLYMPIA, Wash. (KING) - There are a lot of stories about heroic dogs saving the day for their masters, but cats can be heroes, too.

Suzanne Featherstone is surrounded by nature in her home tucked in the woods above Olympia.

Her indoor housecat, named for her owl-like eyes, Me-owly, is the top-ranked animal around here these days.

“Our hero, Me-Owly, I like to say she’s the cat who knows how to say her name,” Suzanne Featherstone said.

She said last week she and her husband David left a bathroom window open “on the left up there, it was just open a little crack.”

At some point in the night, a brown bat made it inside and eventually into their bedroom.

“I heard the cat kind of running around, chasing something, and I thought maybe she was playing with a toy or something. And then when I got up in the morning, I looked down. I’m like, ‘That doesn’t look like a mouse,’” Suzanne Featherstone said.

Brown bats are common in the area, especially in the summer. They control bug populations and prevent the spread of diseases.

But the bat at the Featherstone home tested positive for rabies, and since the homeowners were sleeping in the same room with it, the county said the couple should get medical attention immediately.

“They told us if you have symptoms, it’s too late, that it’s a quiet disease, and that’s why there’s such precaution,” Suzanne Featherstone said.

Me-owly’s all caught up on her rabies shots, so she’s expected to be OK, so she can keep protecting her family from what may be lurking next.

“Who knows what would have happened,” Suzanne Featherstone said. “Good for the cat, she’s the hero.”

While Me-owly had already her rabies shots, her family had to go to the health department to get theirs.

The Featherstones had their first round of rabies shots themselves Wednesday morning.

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