This man’s story of a cat that got stuck in his car engine is the heart-warming tale we all need right now
I squeeze into the car underbelly and try and get my hands round him. Can’t feel any blood or singed hair, nothing appears stuck, but he won’t budge. Getting a bit desperate now I actually do call the fire brigade. /10
— Dr Dominic Pimenta (@juniordrblog) December 10, 2018
Feeling ridiculous I call 999. The controller who picks up is unbelievably nice, and he even more unbelievably says “it’ll be a few minutes, an engine is on its way”. A few minutes?! /11
— Dr Dominic Pimenta (@juniordrblog) December 10, 2018
The engine rock up and the five-strong crew come over. They are all as nonplussed as me- no one’s ever seen this before. Max (my cat) is still meowing away. /12
— Dr Dominic Pimenta (@juniordrblog) December 10, 2018
After some headscratching the fire officers get to work: one calls the RSPCA just in case, another gets under the car and a third tries to remove some of the engine to get at him from above. /13
— Dr Dominic Pimenta (@juniordrblog) December 10, 2018
We have to go and buy some tools from ASDA, but half the air filter comes out and we can see right down on top of Max now. No injuries, he isn’t stuck, he just can’t turn around. /14
— Dr Dominic Pimenta (@juniordrblog) December 10, 2018
Slowly slowly we push him and then pull him back into the underbelly. With a scratch and a squeeze he’s out, and into the arms of “Trock”, one of the fire crew. He passes him back to me and with a huge sigh of relief check him over: not a scratch on him. /15
— Dr Dominic Pimenta (@juniordrblog) December 10, 2018
Handshakes all round, the fire crew put my engine back together and then cheerily hop back onto theirs and disappear off. Max is purring in the backseat as if nothing has happened. /16
— Dr Dominic Pimenta (@juniordrblog) December 10, 2018
And here he is now:
Twenty miles stuck inside a car engine and back home again, not a scratch.
He’s still going to the vet tomorrow but thank God he looks 100% fine. /17 pic.twitter.com/GG4UA0kfK7— Dr Dominic Pimenta (@juniordrblog) December 10, 2018
So to summarise:
– #NursesAreAwesome
– @LondonFire are heroes of the highest order. Sorry again to waste your time.
– Good things do still happen./end
— Dr Dominic Pimenta (@juniordrblog) December 10, 2018
Brilliant! And here are a few of our favourite responses.
Lovely thread, however might be worth getting a cat(alytic) converter fitted in future 😹
— 🔴Chris⚪️ (@chrisbryanafc) December 11, 2018
Nice, but there’s no need when the engine purrs…..
— Frére Xhaka (@MetalGiroud) December 11, 2018
For sure! Wouldn’t wanna cause TAIL backs 💁🏻♂️🙈
— 🔴Chris⚪️ (@chrisbryanafc) December 11, 2018
Hopefully you’re not feline too embarrassed…
— Mark Randall #FBPE (@MarkGWomble) December 11, 2018
And other people had similar stories.
Six years ago I heard meowing from the engine of someone’s parked Audi. An owner, two hours, a mechanic, a vet and a pouch of cat food later, this little guy was rescued… pic.twitter.com/23TCIUZGY6
— Kirsty Brannan (@Vanellus26) December 11, 2018
It happens more often than you’d think, especially in the winter. It’s warm in there. 12 years ago we found a kitten in a the engine of a car parked outside our flat. We managed to free her and adopted her 😊
— 👩🎓Francesca Mancini 👩💻 (@Frances_Mancini) December 11, 2018
Reminds me of how we came by our second cat. We were parked in Tesco and when we returned, a guy was hanging around our car. He said he’d been waiting for us to come back, because he’d seen a kitten crawl onto the wheel and didn’t want us to drive off. We coaxed it down and (1/2)
— Fergie (@cath426) December 11, 2018
she was tiny, too small to be away from her mother, clearly been dumped. Took her home, fed her milk using eye drops, took her to the vet and had her for the rest of my choidhood. If that guy hadn’t seen her and warned us, we’d just have driven off.
— Fergie (@cath426) December 11, 2018
To conclude …
You have made me smile and restored my faith in humanity x
— Liz O’Riordan (@Liz_ORiordan) December 11, 2018