A man was left stunned after a cat discovered a gas leak in a house when it was chewing and scratching the carpet. Sean Evans says the leak could have "blown the house down" had it not been found.
The plumber and gas engineer says the bizarre incident occurred when he received a call-out to a house in Swansea. He says that when he walked through the door, he could instantly smell that there was a significant issue.
However, when the engineer began to investigate the root of the problem, it was the family cat which helped him track down the leak. Wales Online reports that Sean decided to focus his investigation on an area of carpet where the owner's pet had been digging.
He was shocked that when he lifted the piece of carpet, he found the gas leak directly underneath. The tradesman says he had a gut instinct to trust the animal's judgement.
Sean said: "A lady was panicking. She phoned the gas board because she could hear noises under the floor, and the gas board told hear to call a plumber, so I went out the morning after.
"As soon as I got through the door I could smell gas. I did the usual tests in the house and there was a massive gas drop. I said to her, 'Let's trust the animals, where has the cat been digging?', trusting the animal's instinct.
"I couldn't hear anything, but pulled the carpet back and I could hear the gas leak directly underneath where the cat was digging under the carpet.
"I lifted the floorboards, and there was a hole in the pipe directly underneath where the cat was digging. Whether it heard the hissing noise or what, I don't know."
The company director of Beautiful Heating joked that he would be looking to take the cat on after it's recent sniffing antics. Sean added: "I think I need to employ it!
"The gas leak was so big, if she switched the light on, it could have blown the house down. She thought she could smell something, but as I walked through the front door I could smell the gas leaking.
"What happens normally, when you test the gas meter, the drop can be very slow, but I took it up to 21 and it was dropping straight to zero, so I knew this was a big leak. I turned the gas off, cut a section of the pipe away and renewed the section of the pipework.
"I've been self-employed for 20 years and I haven't been helped by a cat before! They normally try and avoid us at all costs!
"I've never seen a cat dig at a gas leak. It was totally unusual for me."
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