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TORBROOK, N.S. (CP) - A homeowner had to be rescued by police after his cat went berserk and trapped him in a bathroom. It took two Mounties and an animal control officer to subdue the seven-year-old frenzied calico named Cathy late Friday.

"I've been in this business going on 24 years and I've never seen a cat focus on a person like that one did," animal control officer Ron Sabean said Sunday.

He was called to the scene near Greenwood, N.S., by a pair of RCMP officers after they were unable to apprehend the cat, which was snarling and hissing at the bathroom door when Sabean arrived. "The RCMP couldn't do anything with it," he said, adding that although it seemed comical that two burly Mounties couldn't catch one small cat, he quickly understood why.

The man's wife was in the house but the cat ignored her. Sabean and the Mounties were also safe as long as they weren't trying to catch the animal. Sabean chased the cat along cupboards and windows throughout the house until he finally was able to slip the spring-loaded noose from his catch-all pole around its neck. The cat was placed in a pen where it remained after being taken to Sabean's home on Sunday afternoon. "I don't dare to put my hands in," he said.

He plans to take the cat to a veterinarian on Monday to try to determine if there is anything wrong with it and to rule out rabies. Sabean said the cat has lived indoors its entire life and had no contact with other animals. Although it was always good with its owners, it was known to spit and hiss at strangers. The trapped man suffered scratches but does not think the cat bit him.

RCMP Const. Charles Brown didn't want to talk about the Friday night cat call to which he and his partner responded. "For fear of bringing embarrassment upon the force," he said with a laugh on Saturday. The animal control officer, the Mounties and the owner aren't sure what sparked the incident. "All he did was pick up the broom to sweep the floor," Sabean said. "It's the strangest incident I've ever been called to."

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