Cats aren't known for being man's best friend, but one has clawed away a Los Angeles animal shelter's award for dogs after protecting her owner from an attacking canine. Tara the cat famously fought off a dog that attacked her four-year-old autistic owner as he rode his bicycle in the driveway of the family's Bakersfield home in May of 2014. She body-slammed Scrappy, an out-of-control Labrador-Chow mix that lived next door, when the dog got out of his yard, ran for Jeremy Triantafilo, grabbed his leg and started shaking the boy from side-to-side. The cat achieved instant Internet stardom when a clip of the encounter was uploaded to YouTube and viewed more than 24million times. then chased him back toward his home.Tara, of Bakersfield, California saved owner Jeremy from dog in May 2014Autistic child was thrashed around by the chow-mix before interventionShe was honored by the  Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Los Angeles with the shelter's annual Hero Dog award
The shelter's 33rd annual award was presented to the family in downtown _ on Friday.