Cat alerts family to carbon monoxide poisoning
Randy Rozek • March 25, 2017
A Wisconsin family is crediting their cat to alerting them about a potentially deadly carbon monoxide leak last month. One, they likely wouldn’t have survived had it not been for their pet and also their son, who came home to help get them out of the toxic house. It all started on Feb. 4 when […]
A Wisconsin family is crediting their cat to alerting them about a potentially deadly carbon monoxide leak last month. One, they likely wouldn’t have survived had it not been for their pet and also their son, who came home to help get them out of the toxic house.
It all started on Feb. 4 when Kevin and Annette Shanahan went to bed about 10 p.m. at their Willow Street home in Reedsburg. Their adult children had left for the evening and about 1 a.m. Annette told Madison.com reporters that she stumbled from her bed and somehow managed to get into a chair beside the bed.
She was lethargic, her mind felt hazy, and her chest was tight. She thought she was having a heart attack. Then, something strange happened, the family’s pet cat, Gracie, began fussing and banging on the door. Something the cat never does.
“Kevin said he heard the noise and decided to check on Gracie. He said he felt sick when he stood up and then noticed his wife in the chair. She was wide-eyed and staring into space, he said. Her body was rigid and her arms were wrapped tightly around her chest,” the article reads.
“Then I knew something was wrong,” he said.
The couple managed to make their way to the living room, but were so out of it and lethargic, they just couldn’t pull themselves to safety.
“ Your mind is so foggy. You can’t think,” he said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life. You can’t put a thought together. “We were right there,” Kevin said, indicating his doorway. “We were that close to fresh air. We were five feet from it.”
Somehow the couple gathered enough energy to call their son, Taylor Schmidt, and 911. It would only take Schmidt a few minutes to get to his parents and help them out of the house. Then, police and ambulances arrived within minutes to help. Med Flight was called for backup and the Reedsburg Fire Department was dispatched to test for carbon monoxide , according to the article.
“The Fire Department found 620 parts per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide on the second floor of the home,” the article reads. “Normal levels vary from .5 to 5 ppm, or 5 to 15 ppm for dwellings with gas stoves, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Poisoning symptoms begin around 70-ppm mark.”
Readings downstairs showed 240 ppm on the main floor of the house and 150 ppm in the basement. Alliant Energy was called to assist.
The Shanahans were taken to Reedsburg Area Medical Center and treated for carbon monoxide poisoning with oxygen, before returning to their home. They told police they have a carbon monoxide detector, but for one reason or another, it didn’t alert them. They went right out and purchased new ones – along with batteries.
Authorities suggest Daylight Savings Time is the perfect time to update, test, and buy batteries for both carbon monoxide detectors and fire alarms.
Luckily, the entire family made it out of the house safely, including Gracie and two other cats.
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