Hero cat's family tells story behind boy's rescue: 'Dog did not even know what hit him'The story, and the video that captured it, is enough to convert even the most hard-core dog lover into a cat person.
It’s how one family cat saved a 4-year-old California boy from a vicious and unprovoked dog attack – and all captured in a one-minute surveillance clip.
“It’s honestly just a blur,” Erica Triantafilo said Thursday on TODAY, describing the attack she witnessed on her son, Jeremy. “I just remember hearing him and the next thing I know, I see my cat flying out of nowhere, onto this dog, and just remember trying to get my son and get the dog away and back in its yard, away from both of us that it was trying to attack.”
Jeremy had been on his bike, walking it up the family driveway when the next door neighbor’s dog trotted around a parked car and tore into the boy’s leg, dragging him off the bike.
That’s when Tara appeared on the scene, leaping on top of the dog, scaring it away. The kitty then went after the dog long enough to make sure it stayed away. The startling scene was captured in a one-minute clip compiled by Jeremy’s dad, Roger Triantafilo. The video went viral Wednesday, seen more than five million times on YouTube alone.
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"I think that dog did not know what hit him.”
The heroics displayed by Tara, a stray adopted by the family six years ago, surprised everyone.
“Every once in a while she puts our dog back into her place, but for the most part, she’s just the most mellow cat you’ve ever met,” Erica Triantafilo said. “All our boys love her and pick on her occasionally. She just loves them right back anyway.”
Jeremy, who was sleeping on his mom’s chest during the interview, received 10 stitches for two lacerations to his calf.
http://www.today.com/news/dog-did-not-know-even-what-hit-him-hero-cats-2D79669571