OK, Cat. What were you THINKING!!!
Let me give a little background here.
Went to the curling club yesterday evening (Draw was at 7:30). After the game flt and I wanted to go grab dinner so we decided to head out and just leave my truck at the club until today.
Earlier today I was driving my truck between the Curling Club and my office. It is a mile at most. Anyway, while I am driving I can swear I hear a cat meow. I had a They Might Be Giants CD playing and thought maybe it was a noise in the song I was playing that I just hadn't noticed before. I hit the mute button on the radio and didn't hear anything for the rest of the drive. On the way back I left the radio silent just in case and heard nothing. This was around 2PM.
We stayed at the club and curled two games. Actually, we were in the 8th end when my pager went off causing me to need to leave for work. We actually had just tied up the game, but I had to go. Found a spare and left to respond to the page. Since work is closer to the club than home, I went by and did what needed to be done before heading home.
On the road home, I heard it again. Radio was on so I muted it again. THIS time I heard the meow with the radio off. There was DEFINITELY a cat/kitten somewhere in my car (Either that or my meds were having some bizarre side effects). I pulled off safely on the side of the road and did a thorough check of the outside of the truck with a flashlight. I checked the bed, the wheel wells, inside the cab and even under the hood. No cat. I decided it was either the meds or whatever it was had maybe run away when I stopped.
Back on the road, radio off. I turn the corner from 198 to 216 and I hear the meow again. I pull off into the well-lit library parking lot and start my search again. This time I KNEW it was coming from the right-front side of the truck so I concentrated on that area. While under the hood I caught the unmistakable smell of cat. I followed my nose to my left and there, behind the coolant overflow tank and some part of the truck whose purpose is unknown, was black and grey fur. It was attached to what appeared to be a kitten (maybe about 12 weeks old). The kitten was still alive and breathing pretty well (I could see it's side moving in and out).
When I realized it was a kitten, I did what any red-blooded American man would do. I called my wife. She was still at the curling club and said she'd bail and come help extract the kitten. Apparently jgesteve told here that was too good an excuse to be made up. While she was on the way, I proceeded to remove the purpose-unknown part and get a clear shot at the area he/she was stuck in. The kitten had started to crawl into a crumple zone in the right-front quarterpanel. I guess the cat realized it was a dead-end and tried to back out, but couldn't.
I tried to move kitty, but my hands were too big to get in and grab a hold of anything solid or even make the guy budge a little bit. flt got there soon and was able to pull the poor guy out by grabbing onto tufts of fur and pulling him backwards. Eventually we had a leg, then a paw and then finally a cute little kitten head popped out of the hole. She managed to guide the guy through the hole with minimal damage. He was strong and feisty and really wanted to get away from us after that. We managed to drop him into the cab of my truck and shut the door.
After we had secured him in the truck, we called information to get the # for PG County animal control (We live in Howard County, but knew that they had limited hours from a previous cat-rescue mission). They were going to be open until midnite and were out in Forestville. We went home to get our cat carrier and then returned to my truck to get him and throw him in the carrier to go to Animal Control. He didn't make it that easy. He had managed to establish himself dead smack in the middle of the area underneath my seat. The design of the seat made getting him out of there very tricky and that took at least another 20 minutes.
We drove to Forestville and got there right as they were turning out the lights. We managed to get their attention and they let us in to check him in. They dumped him in a cage with food and water and gave us the carrier back. We had to fill out a little paperwork and then that was it. He was now in the capable hands of PG County Animal Control. We don't know the extent of his injuries if he does have any. We saw a little blood on his fur, but couldn't pinpoint the cause. Cats are also adept at hiding injury, so we really aren't sure.
We think it is a stray that we always see eating from our neighbor's porch. They put out food for a Mother cat and her 2 or 3 kittens. We think this was one of her kittens. The weird thing is... It must have climbed up in there early on Friday. I left for work around 8:30AM on Friday and the truck wasn't really in the parking lot for very long during the day. The poor guy went at least 36 hours without food and water with his entire body stuck in a metal frame.
Anyway, cat extracted and safe at the shelter.
Mission Accomplished
Vernon
(Big Softie for Kitties)