SOUTH ROCKWOOD, Mich. -- A cat is being hailed as a hero after its meowing woke up his family during a fire.

TV Station WDIV reported that the caterwaul let the Merling family know there was a fire at their South Rockwood home on Thursday.

"At about 4:15 in the morning, Stitch started meowing extremely loudly, and it was an odd meow, so I sat up and opened my eyes, and saw a lot of smoke," said Jennifer Merling.

Jennifer Merling's brother, Nick, who died almost three years ago, owned Stitch, a Bengal mix.

"No one in my family wanted to take the cat, but I loved him, so I took him," she said. "It was because of this cat that we made it out."

Merling said she felt like Nick was watching over her and her two children, Matthew, 12, and Morgan, 9.

"I feel like that was his way of telling me, 'Wake your butt up, sis,'" she said.

Everyone, including the family's two other cats and two dogs made it out safely.

Investigators said the fire likely started in the room containing the furnace, which had overheated and melted the metal around it. Merling said she had batteries in all her smoke detectors except one, but none of them went off.

"My cat is my hero," said Merling.