Former stray cat predicts owner's emphasyma attacks

ALBANY, Ore. — Charles Bennett is convinced Blackie the cat has a sixth sense — he knows ahead of time when Bennett will wake up gasping for breath.

"I've tested this with him, and so I know it's true," said the 72-year-old retired engineering consultant, who suffers with emphysema. It happens too often to be a coincidence, he says.

Bennett doesn't know what the cat hears or senses but often between 3 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. he awakens at his Albany home as the former stray licks his forehead.

"The first time he did that I sat up, swung my feet to the floor and got ready to let the cat outside because that's what I thought he wanted," Bennett said.

"But when I didn't say anything to the cat, he started bumping his head into my side and arm. When I still didn't say anything — didn't know he wanted me to — he put his teeth on my hand but didn't bite."

Finally, when Bennett said something while getting out his inhaler, the cat curled back up on the bed and went to sleep.

During the 10 days before the cat started his unusual behavior, Bennett said he would wake up at night fighting for breath. He believes the cat was developing an understanding of what was happening.

Since then, Bennett said he no longer wakes up gasping for breath. Instead, he awakens to Blackie licking his forehead.

"I don't know if he's helped save my life or not, but he's saved me from some full-blown breathing attacks," he said.

"I'm now getting more sleep than ever because it takes an hour to get back to sleep after an attack."

Bennett's roommate, Philippa Meehan, calls Blackie a "sentinel."

"I wonder if he stays awake just to be sure he will be there to wake Chuck up. Maybe that's why the cat sleeps so much during the day."

Blackie showed up at the roommates' home in August 2004 and jumped onto a backyard swing, looking to be petted.

A neighbor had been feeding the stray, so Meehan and Bennett asked if they could have the cat. Blackie's been with them ever since.

"We don't know where he came from but it obviously had a home," Bennett said. "The cat had been neutered and declawed. He took to me pretty rapidly."

During the day, Blackie sleeps in his own bed behind the living room couch and likes classical music, she said.

He joins Meehan in the room with the piano when she plays, and when he wants to go outside, he stands on the piano stool and jabs at the keys with his front paws.

"He's in tune with Chuck," she said.