A CAT with a sixth sense is basking in the spotlight after winning a My Pet Superstar award for her unique life-saving skills.

When student Nathan Cooper suffers severe epileptic fits, Lilly acts as a warning system and alerts his parents.

On one occasion the 19-year-old had stopped breathing when 14-month-old Lilly raced to the rescue, nudging and nibbling him until he was out of danger.

The teenager’s mother Tracey from South Kinson Drive, Bournemouth, is convinced that Lilly saved her son’s life.

She said: “Normally Lilly is a quiet little thing but when Nathan has a fit she starts running up and down the stairs, meowing at the top of her voice.

“She definitely has some sort of sense that means she knows about them before they happen.”

Tracey, whose family has owned Lilly for barely a year, said: “After one fit, Nathan stopped breathing and Lilly was really worried. She started licking his mouth and somehow it kick-started his breathing.”

Hospital staff later told Mrs Cooper, a full-time carer for Nathan and her disabled husband Simon, 44, it was possible for pets to sense impending fits.

Some experts have claimed that cats’ and dogs’ acute sense of smell may help them detect barely perceptible chemical changes within the human body in advance of a fit.-