Auto dealership removes kitten from truck engine

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What did a Cherry Valley, Calif., woman do when she found a stray kitten in the engine of her truck? She took it back to the dealership.

A quick-service auto technician obliged the odd request on Friday afternoon, dismantling a wheel well and parts of the Ford Ranger’s engine to extricate the 6-week-old stray kitten from deep inside, said Riverside County Department of Animal Services spokesman John Welsh.

An animal control officer took the unharmed kitten to the Banning animal shelter, where workers named him ‘Ramsey’ after the car dealership that removed him. A volunteer is raising him until he reaches the adoptable age of 8 weeks.

The most harrowing part of the journey, perhaps, was when the woman and a friend, realizing they could not get the kitten out without taking the car apart, drove the truck two blocks to the dealership -- with the kitten inside.

‘This was probably pretty traumatic for a young cat,’ Welsh said, offering a possible explanation for what the kitten was doing in the engine in the first place. ‘It’s not uncommon, especially as the nights get a little bit cooler, for animals to tuck themselves in vehicles because of the warmth from engines.’

If a kitten gets stuck in your engine, Welsh recommends getting a tow truck or simply waiting it out.

-- Tony Barboza