Pit bulls get a bad rep for a number of reasons.

A lot of people believe that they’re fighting dogs through and through, or that it’s bred into them. The entire province of Quebec, Canada, has flat out banned owners from having pit bulls which caused a lot of controversy when the law was suggested some years ago.

But no dog is born bad, and pit bulls are most often chosen by their owners because they look menacing. And then they are treated poorly by those owners, or are trained to be attack dogs.

So it isn’t the dog’s fault! But a five year study did find 51% of serious reported dog attacks were committed by pit bulls. So while it may not be a born characteristic, the unfortunate reality is that they do tend to carry out more attacks than other dogs.

97-year-old Sophie Thomas of Harrison, Michigan was almost a victim of one such terrifying attack.

She was working in her garden when four aggressive pit bulls came out of nowhere and entered her yard. She was surrounded. Sophie told People Pets via Pawnation, about her harrowing experience.

“They kept going around and around. One of them kind of lunged for me, and I hit him on the head and he back off. Then another one kind of come up, and I was scared stiff.” – Sophie Thomas

This would be harrowing for anyone, but at 97 years old it’s more difficult to fight off 50 lb dog or run away.

But then her cat, Tiger, came to the rescue.

She stepped in to distract the dogs so her elderly owner could get away, and lead the dogs towards the garage.

“I do not know what would have happened if my cat hadn’t jumped in. She’s very close to me and follows me around. She’s very friendly with me, because I live alone.” – Sophie Thomas

Of course, Sophie was relieved to have Tiger jump into action with a distraction, and ran inside to safety, with only a few mild wounds.

But once her beloved cat was out of sight she had no idea if she would be able to get away from the pit bulls either. And she feared the worst.

But then shortly after, as Sophie was washing her wounds, Tiger came strolling up to the door, totally unscathed!

Ann Daniels is one of Sophie’s neighbours, and the owner of those four pit bulls. She believes the dogs are “friendly” and were just playing, although that certainly wasn’t Sophie’s experience.

But she says the dogs weren’t supposed to be running around unsupervised. They were supposed to be indoors.

“My son didn’t shut his bedroom door, and they went out of the window. I felt horrible. – Ann Daniels

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Ann felt bad about putting her elderly neighbour in danger, but was still fined $300 for letting the dogs escape.

The pups were also quarantined for 10 days.

Sophie is just happy her amazingly brave cat was there to save her. There’s no way of knowing what could have happened if little Tiger hadn’t jumped into action.

She’s certainly not a “scaredy cat”!

“I always thank God that my cat came. Because she was the one that really helped me out,” Sophie said, with tears in her eyes.

Watch the video below to hear from both Sophie and Ann about the unfortunate attack.

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Source: Found Animals, Pub Med, Miss WhooHoo 11 – BSL for American Pit Bull Terriers!