How Coco the brave rescue cat saved her teenage owner

The smart instincts of a cat, adopted from a Victorian pound, have possibly saved the life of her owner — see what Coco did.

In a heartwarming twist of fate, a cat rescued from a Victorian shelter has possibly saved the life of her teenage owner during a Wonthaggi house fire.

Patience Lohmann, 14, was home alone and fast asleep in her bedroom midmorning on September 14 when an electrical fire broke out in the kitchen.

Her rescue cat Coco made her way through the burning kitchen and into Patience’s bedroom, where she forcefully jumped on her owner and woke her.

Patience was then able to safely run out of the house, before realising — when she saw the cat sitting at her bedroom window — that Coco had stayed behind.

“So Patience went back inside and tried to rescue Coco but she ran off, frightened, up further into the house, and then when we couldn’t find her for several days we were really worried.

Patience and Coco. Picture: Supplied

The pair share an unbreakable bond. Picture: Supplied

“But then we finally found her hiding in a bush in the next door neighbour’s yard and now we have her back with us again.”

A single mum of two, Rebekah said she had been taking her disabled son Markel to a medical appointment — leaving Patience at home to enjoy a sleep-in — when the house fire started.

The house, which they had been renting from a family member and contained a lot of asbestos, was now uninhabitable due to smoke and heat damage and had to be demolished, she said.

Coco is back where she belongs, on Patience’s lap. Picture: Supplied

Coco the hero cat. Picture: Supplied

The family had been forced to live in a motel for a fortnight after the fire while seeking alternative rental accommodation.

Fortunately they had now found a suitable rental in a nearby town, but transport was proving a problem and the family was trying to raise enough money to pay for a car so Patience’s disabled brother Markel, 20, could be taken to his many medical and other appointments.

Coco the cat, now aged about seven, had been adopted by her daughter from a shelter several years’ ago, after being abandoned, Rebekah said.

From the start, the pair had forged an unbreakable bond.

“Coco and Patience have always had a very close relationship,” she said.

“Our cat is a treasure, for sure.”