The news these days is often depressing at worst and frustrating at best. It’s easy to let it get us down. Never fear… The News Blender has you covered. Once a week we feature Something Good and, in return, all you have to do is tell us something good that has happened to you this week, something you are thankful for, a joke, a cute animal story, an inspiring tale of heroics, a Random Act of Kindness… SOMETHING good.
Today’s Something Good is for all the cat lovers out there.
We are accustomed to the idea of “guard dogs”: They have watched over us and scared away unwanted guests for millennia. They tend to be in the news for their heroic deeds. But a “guard cat” is what we are talking about today, thanks to Bandit’s heroism.
Fred Everitt is a 68-year-old retired oral surgeon who lives in Tupelo, Mississippi with a cat he adopted from the humane society four years ago, according to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. He supports his local humane society and, one day, while writing a check to help fund their good work, he asked to see the kittens they had. They brought him an active little calico kitten, who Fred says was clearly tired of being cooped up in a cage. He decided on the spot to adopt her and named her Bandit.
Bandit, now a 20-lb loyal and loving pet, very possibly saved Fred’s life in the early hours of July 24. He’d gone to bed around midnight and left Bandit to happily roam their home as usual.
Around 3 am, he heard her meowing loudly in the kitchen. Thinking she’d probably seen another cat outside, Fred thought nothing of it. Then she dashed into his bedroom, jumped on him, tried to pull the bedspread off him, and clawed at his arms.
“She had never done that before. I went, ‘What in the world is wrong with you?'” Everitt said.
Knowing something was wrong but not quite sure what Bandit wanted, Fred humored her. He got out of bed and walked into the kitchen. Upon turning the light on, he could see 2 young men standing outside the door. One had a crowbar and was attempting to open Fred’s back door. The other had a handgun.
Fred ran to get his gun but, fortunately, the young men fled before he returned to the kitchen. Without Bandit to warn Fred and help scare away the would-be intruders, Fred’s night might have ended less happily.
Fred credits Bandit with saving his life. “It did not turn into a confrontational situation, thank goodness,” he said. “But I think it’s only because of the cat.”
A human saving a cat’s life and the cat returning the favor is definitely something good. Now it’s your turn… Tell me something good!
