Cat got your motor? Nampa kitten hitches ride in car engine
BOISE, Idaho (CBS 2) — A kitten from Nampa may be down to eight lives after a close call.
Brian Ray had just gotten home from work when he started hearing a strange meowing coming from his car.
"It's crazy to have driven 17 miles to downtown Nampa to Meridian and not have noticed that I had a cat under the hood,” Ray said.
Ray and his wife, Amanda, immediately opened the car's hood.
"The kitten dove under the engine block and we couldn't get her from below and we couldn't get from above,” Ray said. “And, so we tried to hatch this plan.”
A carjack raised the front half up enough so that Amanda could get to the crying kitten.
"And, it scared me honestly,” Amanda said. “I wasn't ready to see a cat in the engine."
Amanda says she remembers catching a glimpse of the small kitten and seeing a red spot on her chin.
"I was honestly afraid she was bleeding internally,” Amanda said. “And, that when I got her out, she was going to be like gushing blood."
The kitten, later named Briar, was eventually caught and taken to a no-kill, cat only shelter called “Simply Cats”, where they were able to shed some light on her injury.
"We later learned that that's called degloving,” said Simply Cat’s Outreach Coordinator Kate Beyer. “And, it is exactly that. It's when your frontal lip gets detached from your gum line."
Briar will be getting surgery soon to reattach her lip to her chin.
But, those at the shelter want to make sure Briar's situation doesn't happen again.
"It's just very important that folks remember to incorporate some kind of loud sound into their routine,” Beyer said. “We recommend that, when you walk up to your car in the morning, just give it a nice quick pound, and then jump in your car. And, that might be enough to scare any cat or kitten that's hanging out near your car."
And, the Rays will definitely be taking the advice.
"As much as we love her, I really don't want another engine kitty,” Amanda said.
Those interested in adopting Briar can find an adoption form online, here.
Potential adopters then meet with Briar and the Simply Cats team to make sure the match is a good fit.
They add that those willing to adopt Briar AND her foster sister, Socks, will be more attractive as adopters.
