<p>A hero cat saved his owner’s life by pounding his paws on her chest to wake her up after she suffered a heart attack. </p><p>Sam Felstead, 42, was asleep when she was woken by her seven-year-old cat Billy at 4.30am. </p><p>She realised she was unable to move her body and had a shooting pain down her right side so called out to her mum Karen for help.</p><p>Sam, a receptionist at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, was rushed to hospital by Karen in the early hours of August 8.</p><p>Doctors told her she had suffered a heart attack in her sleep and Sam believes Billy’s swift actions saved her life.</p><p>Sam, from Stapleford, Notts., said: “I was a bit shocked, I went to bed and I felt fine.</p><p>“I’d even been out with the dogs and I didn’t feel ill or have any pains whatsoever. </p><p>“Suddenly I woke up in the early hours covered in sweat and couldn’t move.</p><p>“Billy was on my chest and was meowing loudly in my ear hole.</p><p>“He was really meowing. He doesn’t do that normally, he sleeps all day and all night, that’s his life. </p><p>“He wouldn’t leave me. </p><p>“He's not a lap cat. He's not a light cat either and he’s certainly not a cat that wants to be on your knee all the time. He likes to be alone. </p><p>“He's never woken me up in the night before, he never bothers you. He doesn’t wake you up for food. </p><p>“He's normally all my mum, he loves her and doesn’t bother with me. </p><p>“Mum was quite shocked. I told her he woke me up and she was even more shocked. You don’t hear about it with cats. </p><p>“I'm just glad he woke me up. Who knows if I would have got up without him, it could’ve been worse for me.” </p><p>Single Sam and her mum, who she lives with, phoned 999 but were told she would have to wait two hours for an ambulance to arrive. </p><p>Karen drove Sam to the Queen’s Medical Centre where doctors said she had suffered a mild heart attack. </p><p>Sam added: “I was wet through with sweat and had really bad back pain and my right side felt really heavy and strange. </p><p>“I couldn’t move it. I couldn’t stand up either and it was very dizzy when I got up. </p><p>“We rang 999 but they said there would a two-hour wait for an ambulance so my mum took me. We went off to hospital. </p><p>“They sorted me after a while and they sent over to city hospital. </p><p>“They found one of my arteries was blocked which was caused the heart attack. </p><p>“They looked after me ever so well, so that was quite nice, I have a lot of medication to take for life and I have to take it easy for six weeks. </p><p>“It's just sitting and doing nothing. I'm trying to get out and do slow walks. </p><p>“I had to have a balloon in my artery to open it back up again.” </p><p>Sam spent three days in hospital before being discharged and was reunited with her beloved Billy, a British short-hair.</p><p>She added: “When I came home at first he wasn’t bothered, he completely ignored me. </p><p>“He's just the same now, I just try to give me a bit more love. </p><p>“I’m grateful towards him as I didn't know if I'd have woken up. </p><p>“My alarm was for another two hours so who knows if I would have woken up.</p><p>“The doctors said it was a good job I got to hospital in time.</p><p>"I do think he saved my life and so does everybody else around me."</p><p>Cat behaviour expert Lucy Hoile said Billy may have picked up on physiological changes in Sam.</p><p>She said: "It could be that the fact he jumped on her and was meowing was a sign of his anxiety.</p><p>"I do believe he probably did save her life, because that's what enabled her to get medical help, but I wouldn't go down the route of saying he did it on purpose. </p><p>"It was him reacting to the situation."</p>