Ray and Carol Steiner had made up their minds. The Bowling Green, Ohio, couple had three cats whom they adored. The kitties were great company, but they were also the maximum capacity. The Steiners had come to a mutual agreement: additional felines were strictly forbidden. Had they adhered to the policy, they may not have lived much longer.

As they exited the nursing home following a visit to Carol’s mother in 1992, the Steiners were greeted with a faint sound emanating from a nearby abandoned shed. As they moved closer, the sound of baby kittens was unmistakable to the cat-loving couple.

Inside the shed were a litter of red tabby Manx kittens. To the Steiners, all were adorable, but one stood out. This particular kitten came to the couple and, at that moment, essentially adopted them. Smittened by the kitten, Ray and Carol looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders as if to say there is always an exception to the rule. The Steiners’ oral agreement was no match for the cute kitty.

The Steiners took the kitten home, where he blended in with his new and older feline siblings. Because he would drum his paws on the glass kitchen doors when he wanted attention, the kitty was christened Ringo, after Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.

All of the abandoned kittens found in the shed near the nursing home eventually were adopted, but none probably received a reward as did Ringo.

Carol, Ringo, And Ray Steiner

In the summer of 1995, both of Ringo’s adoptive parents were having health issues. Ray was recovering from heart surgery, and Carol was wearing a leg cast resulting from a car accident. In recent months, the couple had also been plagued with other health problems.

During the late spring and summer, both Ray and Carol experienced bouts of headaches and dizziness. In addition, both were constantly fatigued and sleeping twelve-to-fourteen hours a day. Each assumed the symptoms resulted from their respective health issues.

Ringo, however, showed them they were wrong.

The Steiners Experience Health Problems

On a particularly hot August 15 afternoon, the Steiners were holed up in their home, with the air conditioner on full power and the doors and windows shut. Their three other cats were acting normally, but Ringo was running in circles. After he persistently meowed loudly and threw himself against the door, Carol hobbled over and let him out.

Ringo Acts Erratically

Once outside, Ringo continued his erratic behavior, meowing even more loudly, as if he wanted back in, but when Carol came outside, Ringo seemed to want her to follow him. He led her to the gas and water meters at the back of the house where he began digging with fervid feline ferocity. When Carol knelt beside him, the smell of natural gas nearly knocked her out.

Carol promptly called the gas company. An inspection crew found explosive levels of gas surrounding the house’s foundation. In addition, the gas had permeated the inside of the home, slowly filling it with poisoned methane.

A repair crew found the leak about three feet in front of the gas meter– precisely where Ringo had dug. A steel coupler had split and because of rust and corrosion, the hole had exapnded, leaking large amounts of gas into the home. The inspectors said the house was one pilot light or outdoor spark away from being blown to smithereens, potentially also destroying six neighboring houses encompassing twenty-two people. Even if an explosion did not occur, the methane leakage ultimately would have killed the Steiners.

Fortunately, Ringo proved he had a nose for detecting trouble. The Steiners aired out their home and were able to rid it of methane and not have to destroy it.

Ringo To The Rescue

Ringo received the American Humane Association’s Stillman Award for outstanding heroism, awarded to animals or humans who have saved the life of the other in the face of danger.

In the over one-hundred years of the award, Ringo is one of eleven cats to be bestowed the honor, and, as far as I could find, is the last cat to receive the award.

Ringo Receives A Prestigious Award

How Ringo was able to detect the gas leak when the Steiners’ other cats did not is a mystery. The older cats had been at the home longer and may have grown used to the smell and ignored it. To the Steiners, though, that hardly mattered. They believed Ringo saved their lives.

Perhaps that was Ringo’s way of thanking the Steiners for breaking their no more cats rule in giving him a home.

The Hero Kitty

Ray Steiner died in 2014 at age seventy-two. He had a doctorate degree in Mathematics and taught Mathematics and Statistics at Bowling Green University.

Carol Steiner died in 2020 at age seventy-five. She had a Masters degree in Music from Bowling Green and taught the subject at a local high school. Carol also wrote curriculum on how to teach Elementary music.

The two educators were forever grateful to Ringo for educating them about the very serious problem in their home.

Educators And Cat-Lovers

Sources:

• Articles about “Animal Heroes”
• “Ringo, the Hero Cat” by Carol Steiner
• Sentinel Tribune (Bowling Green, Ohio)
• Unsolved Mysteries