Posted on 07/26/2009 12:38:21 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows
MADISON, Wis. -- A kitten traveled more than 1,000 miles under the hood of an unknowing Belleville man's car.
Steve Johnson said he discovered the kitten while getting his oil changed Friday.
"I really couldn't believe it. The gentleman pulled the cat out it looked like it was in pretty good shape," said Johnson.
Johnson arrived at Smart Motors to get an oil change with no idea he was carrying a mini passenger.
Smart Motors employee Brandon Stachowiak was the one who discovered the kitten hiding under the hood.
"I opened the hood and all of a sudden I saw a cat just sitting there between the firewall and the engine block," Stachowiak said.
Johnson was surprised to see the kitten, but he remembered what happened last week.
"I was at the Piggly Wiggly in Evansville. I'm a sales rep for Carl Buddig meats, (and) as I walked toward my vehicle, a customer came up to me and said, 'Don't start your engine,'" Johnson said.
The shopper had seen a cat crawl up on Johnson's tire. Johnson said they searched the car but could not find any animal, so he forgot about it -- until Friday.
Sherry Smith of Happy Cat, an adoption company working with Dane County Humane Society, said they see instances like this.
"He's looking for a warm place and he's probably just hiding out," Smith said.
Happy Cat will take care of the kitten until he's ready for adoption.
"He's not worse for wear. He's dehydrated; I think he's doing great for all he's gone through," Smith said.
The cat stayed safe during his long journey under the hood of Johnson's car.
"I probably put about 1,400 miles on the vehicle in that time, and that cat's been all over the state," Johnson said.
For all those hoping to adopt this kitten, it's still a bit early. Happy Cat workers said the kitten will remain in their care for a few weeks until he can be neutered, then they will put him up for adoption.
For more information on how to adopt one of Happy Cat's rescue animals, people can call 608-845-8292. They can also be reached by email at alabrd@yahoo.com or people can visit their Pet Finder site at happycatclub.Petfinder.Com.
That’s a pretty elegent looking kitty to be riding around in a car’s engine.
Thank you for posting!
I need cuteness like that sometimes to balance out the yucky stuff I usually read about.
I’m havin a real hard time with this... after a week w/o water, it would die.
After a week w/o water in a running engine compartment, it would be jerky. Furry jerky, but still jerky.
My pleasure. I wish I could find more.
Poorly written. Synthetic or dinosaur oil? What grade? PUR 1 or Wix filter?
I’m sure they cleaned him up.
I’ll bet the oil change place tried to sell him a new kitten, even though the old one was perfectly good.
Ummm... back in the day when fans on radiators were belt-driven, kittens (and cats) have been known to be chopped up when starting the engine... ooops...
When opening the hood of my car, I’ve seen (from time to time) some cat fur sitting around in the engine compartment. I realized, then, that some cat was taking up residence inside the engine compartment occasionally... :-)
My mother’s cat is named MC, short for Miracle Cat. As a very small kitten, his stupid mother decided my sister’s car was an ideal place for her half grown litter of six little kitties.
My sister, unknowing that Momma cat had transferred her family to the under carriage of the car, took off on her usual morning routine. This routine included driving 15 miles on the freeway to Wal-Mart, parking, going in and having breakfast at the McDonalds, doing some shopping for Mom, driving another ten miles or so and making another stop, then driving to Mom’s where she would spend the day.
At 4PM, she went out to drive home and found a single kitten, covered with grease, crying pitifully on the top of the front driver’s side tire of her Taurus. It was the sole survivor of Momma cats family (she was away when my sister drove off).
I have this picture little kitties bouncing off the pavement on the freeway running through my mind... sniff...
My sister was saying, “I’ll take him home...” when my Mom interupted and said “Not on your life! That cat went through so much to get here, he belongs here. He’s mine! That’s Miracle Cat!”
Besides being one of the scardiest cats I know, the only damage from his ordeal was the tip of his tail was broken. MC has a little crook on the end of his tail to this day.
Poor baby! Glad he ended up in a good home.
These days, people would just think the kid was “emo.”
Could be worse.
not long ago one of our cats rode 8 miles to get Mexican under the hood of our Land Cruiser
we got out and were walking across the street and our youngest (aged2) started hollering that Sonny Was Under The Car
and damned if he wasn’t...squealing cat talk loud as all get out...our 9 year old jumped under the car and grabbed him before he panicked and ran into the traffic
how odd...always heard of that but had never seen it before
he had the quesadilla
If you hadn't told me, I'd've had to ask.
don’t tell Chet99
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