Life-saving dog and cat win top honours in US

A dog that saved its owner from choking on food and a cat that raised the alarm when poisoned fumes filled a house were named US pets of the year today.

Golden retriever Toby performed a canine version of the Heimlich manoeuvre by jumping on Debbie Parkhurst’s chest when a piece of apple lodged in her throat, forcing it to pop out.

And Winnie the cat clawed at Cathy Keesling’s hair until she woke up after a petrol-driven pump emptying floods from her cellar spewed deadly carbon monoxide throughout the house.

They were named 'Dog and Cat of the Year' by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Five humans were also honoured for their actions toward animals in the past year, including a Bronx firefighter who saved a dog and cat from a burning building.

Neither Mrs Parkhurst nor Mrs Keesling could explain their pets’ actions.

Both pets were rescued in infancy, Toby as a four-week-old puppy tossed into a rubbish bin to die, and Winnie as a week-old orphan hiding under a barn, so helpless that Mrs Keesling’s husband, Eric, had to feed her milk with an eyedropper.

Mrs Keesling recalled: “Winnie jumped on the bed and was clawing at me, with a kind of angry meow.

Police in Indiana responding to her emergency call said the family was only minutes from death.

Mrs Parkhurst bit into the apple at home in Maryland after feeling peckish.

“Normally I peel them, but I read in Good Housekeeping magazine that the skin has all the nutrients, so I ate the skin, and that’s what caused me to choke,” she said.

“I couldn’t breathe and I was in panic when Toby jumped on me. He never does that, but he did, and saved my life.”