Despite his name, Mr. Boo the cat is a rather reserved fellow.
The Kecskes family of Ohio adopted him several years ago, and since then he’s never meowed. If he wants to say something, he’ll occasionally let out a little squeak, but that’s it.
Mr. Boo is a silent cat.
“He never meows,” Ariana Kecskes told WKRC Local 12. “It’s actually kind of a joke in our family.”
Now we can say that he never meowed until he realized he needed to make some noise. Perhaps he was just saving up his meows to use them when it was imperative that he did.
There’s Danger in the Air
On a Tuesday night while the family slept, death began to circle in the air of their home. Carbon monoxide. The silent killer. You can’t smell it, you can’t taste it, and you can’t hear it. But it’s there.
There must be something very special about Mr. Boo the cat. Because according to Vets-Now.com,
“Just like humans, cats don’t recognize when carbon monoxide is present…”
And yet, Mr. Boo not only recognized that something was wrong, he acted on it. He started to meow like he never had before. Fox19 interviewed David Kecskes, the father. They state,
“David said the family cat, Boo, was meowing so loudly it woke everyone up.”
And it’s a good thing it did wake everyone up because the effects of the poisonous gas were already apparent.
Kecskes and his wife were pulled from sleep by the noise Mr. Boo was making, and just in time. He told KTVU that as they left their bedroom,
“…we just saw Boo fall and pass out… And then Ariana came out of her room, it’s her cat kind of, and she passed out…”
He added a little more detail here to WKRC Local 12.
“He was sort of stumbling down the hallway and he just kept meowing. He seemed to kind of want us to get us out of the house,” he said. “He passed out so many times trying to wake us all up and that’s just amazing because he’s never really meowed before. It’s like he’s been waiting his whole life to do this one heroic thing.”
At this point, Kecskes begins to get everyone out of the house and calls 911.
He and his son had to carry his daughter Ariana out of the house, then he cleared out the rest of the family and Mr. Boo, then grabbed a few positions and cleared out himself.
The Rescue
In his 911 call, Fox19 reports him saying,
“My daughter fainted in the hallway, my son fainted on the back porch and our cat fainted in the living room. And I’m dizzy and my mom’s dizzy. And my wife’s dizzy.”
Fire crews were soon on the scene and the entire family was taken to the hospital for assessment.
Green Township’s Assistant Fire Chief told Fox19,
“Had this situation gone on much longer the outcome could have been different.” He added, “It’s [carbon monoxide] colorless, it’s odorless, it’s tasteless, so it is a silent—it’s a silent killer if you will.”
An investigation found that it was a malfunctioning boiler that was leaking carbon dioxide, and it was immediately red-tagged. The family also had no detectors in the home—other than Mr. Boo that is. Something that I’m sure has changed since this happened.
Heroic Cat Receives Award
And the heroic Mr. Boo? The story doesn’t end there for him.
This otherwise quiet cat passed out multiple times while meowing loud enough to waken the whole family from a sleep deepened with gas.
PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien felt this cat deserved recognition.
“Mr. Boo knew that something was wrong, and he didn’t rest until he’d alerted his entire family to the danger they were in. PETA is recognizing this heroic cat for saving his family and demonstrating just how rewarding adopting an animal can be.”
Mr. Boo is the proud recipient of a framed certificate, catnip toys, and vegan treats.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
