onedef92
05-12-2011, 7:00am
Cat acts as weather alert system for Perrysburg Twp. woman
Posted: May 10, 2011 11:03 PM EDT
Updated: May 11, 2011 11:53 AM EDT
PERRYSBURG TOWNSHIP, OH (WTOL) - A Perrysburg Township woman says her weather alert system has four legs and fur.
Chelsea Itson says it's a special cat that's been trained to protect her in many ways.
Lake High School meant the world to Itson. She says it changed her life, from her hanging with a bad crowd to graduating with honors.
When she finally saw her school in ruins after last year's June 5 tornado, the images haunted her.
"I was having nightmares where I was punching, kicking, throwing my husband out of bed," Itson said.
Itson went to a therapist and got a prescription for a Comfort Care Animal. That's when Noah entered her life.
"He's been trained and part of it comes naturally," Itson said.
Itson claims Noah gets straight to the point when weather alerts are issued. Itson said she recently lost some of her hearing after a car accident and can't always hear the sirens.
"But my cat does. And he'll nudge me awake."
Itson says Noah has a wide range of cat-calls when he meows. "A low tone into a higher tone. He'll do his best to match the sirens when he cries at me. His low tone is feed me. We can tell the difference."
In fact a couple weeks ago when the sirens went off the cat didn't have his tongue. "Got us up and just walked straight to his cat carrier ready to go downstairs," Itson described.
For more information about comfort care or therapy animals you can click on links under the "Links Mentioned on WTOL 11 News" section.
Posted: May 10, 2011 11:03 PM EDT
Updated: May 11, 2011 11:53 AM EDT
PERRYSBURG TOWNSHIP, OH (WTOL) - A Perrysburg Township woman says her weather alert system has four legs and fur.
Chelsea Itson says it's a special cat that's been trained to protect her in many ways.
Lake High School meant the world to Itson. She says it changed her life, from her hanging with a bad crowd to graduating with honors.
When she finally saw her school in ruins after last year's June 5 tornado, the images haunted her.
"I was having nightmares where I was punching, kicking, throwing my husband out of bed," Itson said.
Itson went to a therapist and got a prescription for a Comfort Care Animal. That's when Noah entered her life.
"He's been trained and part of it comes naturally," Itson said.
Itson claims Noah gets straight to the point when weather alerts are issued. Itson said she recently lost some of her hearing after a car accident and can't always hear the sirens.
"But my cat does. And he'll nudge me awake."
Itson says Noah has a wide range of cat-calls when he meows. "A low tone into a higher tone. He'll do his best to match the sirens when he cries at me. His low tone is feed me. We can tell the difference."
In fact a couple weeks ago when the sirens went off the cat didn't have his tongue. "Got us up and just walked straight to his cat carrier ready to go downstairs," Itson described.
For more information about comfort care or therapy animals you can click on links under the "Links Mentioned on WTOL 11 News" section.