Escaped Sheppey cat found in car engine after school run

A cat has survived a five-mile trip in the engine of a car after escaping from its home.

Four-year-old Rose was found under the bonnet by David King after he had dropped his grandson off at school on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.

He had driven from Sheerness to the school in Minster before returning home.

Rose, who belongs to Mr King's neighbour, was discovered after he lifted the bonnet to do an oil check.

Mr King's wife Tina King said: "He came running in shouting for me to come have a look.

"What I didn't expect to see was two eyes staring back at him from a ball of fluff," Mrs King said.

She added: "I gently prodded it with a stick to check it was breathing and saw it was a terrified little cat."

Mrs King said Rose went even further back into the engine and became stuck.

"There wasn't any way I could coax it out."

Their local vet advised them to call Cats Protection, who sent out Kim Braysher, a welfare team leader at the charity's Swale branch.

Ms Braysher said: "When we opened the bonnet, we saw two wide eyes staring back at us.

"She was understandably frightened and trembling. She must have been petrified all the time the car was driving on the busy school run."

It was only once the car had been jacked up and the front wheel taken off that Rose could be freed.

Rose's owner, Allison Webster, said the cat appeared unscathed by the ordeal.

"Rose is back to galloping around the house as if nothing happened but I'm pretty sure she has used up one of her nine lives," Ms Webster said.

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