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A hero pet cat sacrificed the last of his nine lives to save his human siblings — dying as he fought one of Australia’s deadliest snakes to stop it from attacking them, according to an animal hospital.
“Heroes come in all shapes and sizes!” the Animal Emergency Service said in a Facebook post Sunday hailing the ultimate sacrifice made by Arthur in Queensland.
The “adorable domestic shorthair cat” had been playing with his family in their backyard when an Eastern Brown Snake “slithered right up to the young children,” the hospital said.
“Arthur jumped into action protecting his young family by killing the snake.”
In the chaos of protecting the two kids, nobody realized at first that Arthur had been bitten by the snake, which Australian Geographic lists as the country’s “most dangerous.”
Arthur collapsed but quickly recovered like nothing was wrong,” the vets said, noting that “collapse events like this [are] a common symptom of snake bites.”
He collapsed again the next day, and when rushed to the Animal Emergency Service’s hospital in Tanawha his “symptoms were too severe to recover.”
“It was with the heaviest of hearts his owners had to leave Arthur after he gained his angel wings,” the hospital said.
“His family, understandably devastated, remember him fondly and are forever grateful he saved the children’s lives.”
The Eastern Brown Snake, or Pseudonaja Textilis, is largely “responsible for more deaths every year in Australia than any other group of snakes,” Australian Geographic said.
“If disturbed, the eastern brown raises its body off the ground, winding into an ‘S’ shape, mouth gaping open and ready to strike,” the outlet said.
“Its venom causes progressive paralysis and stops the blood from clotting, which may take many doses of antivenom to reverse. Victims may collapse within a few minutes.”
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