Cat loses one of its lives (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Cat loses one of its lives

Focus, the kitten, with Rachael Todd, who rescued it from her car's engine. Ref 17036/03RECEPTIONIST Rachael Todd had the shock of her life when she opened the bonnet of her car to find a 12-week-old kitten clinging on to the engine on Monday.

Miss Todd, 20, unwittingly drove all the way from her home in Melksham to work at the Dental Access Centre in Rowden Hill with the cat under the bonnet.

It wasn't until she stopped the car that she heard its cries and started to investigate saving one of its nine lives.

"At first I thought I'd run it over so I rolled back the car to have a look," she said. "There was nothing there but we could still hear this little meow. I put my ear to the car and could hear it under the bonnet."

She and workmate Julia Bacon enlisted the help of three porters from the hospital, who opened the car bonnet. The petrified black kitten was wedged in a cavity beside the engine and it took 20 minutes to be coaxed out.

"The poor thing was shaking, but luckily it was unhurt," said Miss Todd. "I can't believe it was there all the way from Melksham."

Nicknamed Focus after Miss Todd's car, the kitten was taken to Hale Vets in Langley Road.

Miss Todd is trying to track down its owner probably someone who lives near her at Marti Close in Melksham. "I made some flyers and dropped them around but we haven't had a phone call so far," she said. "If nobody comes forward, I'll keep it myself."