Infant Dies Of Asphyxia After Family Cat Falls Asleep On Her Face

An infant died of asphyxia after her family cat fell asleep on her face in the Vinnytsia region of eastern Ukraine over the weekend.

Police said the nine-month-old girl’s mother, Snezhana, left the baby in her pram and went to finish her housework. When she returned a while later to check on the infant, she found the cat sleeping on the baby’s face. Upon seeing Snezhana, the feline ran away. The woman then discovered that the infant wasn’t breathing. Emergency personnel were called to the scene who informed Snezhana that her daughter had died.

“There was a smell of milk, a warm place, the cat got inside the pram to warm up. The baby was well dressed, her arms were out. When we came, the baby was still warm… We found the baby in the state of clinical death. We could not help… we were trying to resuscitate her for 30 to 40 minutes,” a paramedic said.

Confirming the news, police said, “The mother saw the cat lying on the baby…sleeping on her head. The baby was already dead. The body was sent to forensic experts, an autopsy was performed. The preliminary opinion of the expert was that it was asphyxia. There are no more injuries on the baby's body.”

Calling the death “accidental,” police added, “We are not taking any measures against the mother. We understand it is a huge psychological problem in the family now.”