I listened to my cat. She was stretched out in my lap sleeping panther style while I had dozed off in a chair at about 11:30 pm. All of the sudden she jumped up, which woke me up, and stared over my shoulder at the back door with her mouth agape and eyes dilated. She really looked scared so I went to investigate and startled a tall man, late 20s, in my laundry room. He had just picked the lock to enter the back door. I pivoted and ran barefoot out the front door to a neighbor who called the police. Eight police officers arrived silent approach within a minute but the intruder had already bolted. My cat gave me about a ten second jump on the intruder rather than him having the jump on sleeping me. I shudder to think what would have happened if my cat hadn’t warned me. The police asked if the intruder had a backpack — which he didn’t— so he wasn’t there to steal. My kitty is now 22 years old and I gratefully dote on her every whim.