CALVERT, Md. - Toby, a 2-year-old golden retriever, saw his owner choking on a piece of fruit and began jumping up and down on the woman's chest. The dog's owner believes the dog was trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver and saved her life.

Debbie Parkhurst, 45, of Calvert told the Cecil Whig newspaper she was eating an apple at her home Friday when a piece lodged in her throat. She attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself but it didn't work. After she began beating on her chest, she said Toby noticed and got involved.

"The next think I know, Toby's up on his hind feet and he's got his front paws on my shoulders," she recalled. "He pushed me to the ground, and once I was on my back, he began jumping up and down on my chest."

That's when the apple dislodged and Toby started licking her face to keep her from passing out, she said.

"I literally have paw print-shaped bruises on my chest. I'm still a little hoarse, but otherwise, I'm OK," Parkhurst said.

"The doctor said I probably wouldn't be here without Toby," said Parkhurst, a jewelry artist. "I keep looking at him and saying, 'You’re amazing."'

The cat does not have a name, but perhaps "Lucky" would be an appropriate moniker.

Jerry Dominicak, executive director of the Siouxland Humane Society, saved the cat's life on Thursday morning by administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The black-and-white cat was trapped in a storage trailer at the WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa. It became wedged in a trench-like space and managed to turn its head sideways. Its head was stuck on the outside of the trailer through a small hole, while its body remained inside of the shed.

"It saw what it thought was an escape route and got its head stuck," Dominicak said.

WinnaVegas Casino staff members said they believe the cat slipped unnoticed into the storage trailer three of four days ago.

Without food or water, the cat looked for an escape route and found the small hole. It likely struggled for some time to escape, Dominicak said. The cat rubbed off all of the hair on its chin and upper chest during the struggle.

A WinnaVegas Casino employee noticed the head of the trapped cat on Thursday morning.

Staff members tried everything to free it -- even going to the kitchen and retrieving vegetable oil in hopes of sliding the cat's head out of the opening.

After their attempts failed, Deana Whistler, a board member of the Siouxland Humane Society and market analyst for WinnaVegas Casino, called Dominicak.

"By the time we got out there, the cat was just lifeless," Dominicak said.

The cat had given up on trying to escape -- it was not moving in the trench and was barely breathing.

Dominicak and Amanda Cook, assistant shelter manager, managed to free the cat. But by that time, it had stopped breathing.

Dominicak knew what to do next.

Using two fingers, he felt for a heartbeat and found a weak one. Dominicak gently lifted up the head of the cat and placed his mouth down over the mouth and nose of the cat.

He breathed deeply several times, filling the cat's lungs with air.

"After doing that several times, the cat kind of spit and sputtered a little and very laboredly started breathing," Dominicak said.

Casino employees watched as Dominicak performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the cat.

"It was just like watching 'Animal Planet,'" Whistler said.