Fifth Third Bank proved they’re friends to the feline, when trust officers refused to administer death to 11-year-old Boots, despite that execution directive being included in her late owner’s will. Feel that? It’s your heart, warming.

The Chicago Tribune says a 76-year-old woman who had died recently had stipulated in her will that any cat or cats she owned when she passed should be euthanized “in a painless, peaceful manner” by a veterinarian’s lethal injection.

That part of the will made trust officers uncomfortable and they decided to spare good ol’ Boots. A probate court approved the putting aside of that part of the will. However, there were no surviving relatives of the woman to take the kitty, so she was sent to a no-kill shelter with a small endowment for her care.

“It would violate public policy to euthanize a healthy housecat where an appropriate shelter has been identified,” lawyers for Fifth Third plead to the court. The woman had willed most of her estate to animal-related causes, which they say showed she was committed to humane treatment of animals.

Anyone living in Chicago need a really lucky cat?

Cat survives death sentence in owner’s will after Fifth Third Bank intervenes [Chicago Tribune]