I'll let you know right now, I've got a big soft spot for animals. (except spiders)
Kittens especially.
So today I helped rescue a kitten.
This lady pulls up at the shop in her Tahoe, I think it was a '00 or '01 model, telling us that there was a cat underneath it somewhere. She'd just been at the bank nearby and someone else saw it run underneath the vehicle and climb up inside.
Four or five of us ended up out there trying to locate the critter. Before I walked out there they'd already tried luring it out with cat food. Big mistake. You know how cats are, they're too smart for that and they're too proud to admit they need help. Another one of the guys went under on a creeper and grabbed the cat but it got away and ran right back and hid under the vehicle. So when I went out there I ended up on my back without the creeper on the hot asphalt trying to catch the cat. I started at the rear axle and almost grabbed it a couple of times but it got away. It ran towards the front, walking on the driveshaft and torsion bars and believe it or not the hot exhaust system. Meanwhile I'm pulling myself along under the SUV trying to grab the cat but not to grab anything hot. The cat made it to the engine bay, crawled around the radiator, and then inside the driver's side fenderwell. I mean inside the damn fender! You just wouldn't believe the tight spaces a cat can fit through!
The cat was inside the fender itself, best we could tell from it's meowing which was becoming weak-sounding. The lady suggested letting her leave with the cat inside and maybe it would come out later. I told her that would be a bad idea. The outside temp was in the 90's and the temperature under the hood and in the fender the cat was hiding in was already hot enough to kill it pretty soon. Plus with the engine running and the vehicle moving the cat could get killed by the serpentine belt or the wheels. Besides, I said, I'm not letting an animal die like that if I can help it. And everyone else agreed.
So we eased the Tahoe into a shop bay where it was in the shade and cooler. One of the guys finally saw the cat inside the fender, and it had wedged itself in there pretty tight. I got down under the Tahoe on my back and saw the cat and it's only likely escape route. Will, our assistant manager, got an air nozzle hooked up to one of the shop's air lines and I directed him in blowing compressed air at the cat's rear to drive it forward to me. Then he managed to work a long screwdriver, one of the long useless ones that's about 2 feet long, behind the cat to prod it forward. It worked and the cat started crawling in my direction. Just before it made it into the front bumper I grabbed. It slid free twice but I ended up with a grip on one of it's hind paws, dragged it back while it yowled and hollered and struggled, and then got a grip on the nape of its neck.
And pulled a cute little kitten that was probably no more than 5 or 6 weeks old out to safety. Boy it was pissed too! Scared to death, clawing anything it could including me, yowling, struggling. But safe. The lady who'd spotted the cat in the first place offered to adopt it and gave her number. Will put the kitten up safely back in the break room and called the lady. When she came to pick the kitten up and Will opened up the cabinet he'd put the kitten in, it was sitting there calm as can be licking itself and it was very friendly.
The lady who was driving the Tahoe was so happy she bought us all lunch. She spent over $60 bucks to bring us pizza and drinks!
So the story ended well for everyone concerned. I and the guys got to save a cute little kitten, someone got a new pet -- and this one is probably going to be a handful I garantee! -- and we made a new customer from a nice lady who needed an emergency feline-ectomy on her SUV. Her words were "you went above and beyond!"
I wish I could have adopted the kitten myself. But my landlord doesn't want dogs or cats, plus I have a cockatiel and birds don't mix well with cats for some reason. But as long as it's alive, safe, and in a good home I'm happy.
Wasn't the first time for me, getting a cat out from under a vehicle. Cats are something else sometimes. They get themselves into these impossible life-threatening situations and then refuse to accept any help. Forget the fireman getting a cat out of a tree, try getting one out from under a vehicle! Last time I did that, I pulled a full-grown cat out from under a car. The poor thing was perched on the rear axle, it had managed to hold on there while the car was doing between 60 and 80 on the interstate. Clawed me pretty good a few times, but I got it out safely. Then after a while it was just one big buncha love. (in other words, the cat was grudgingly admitting I'd saved it's fuzzy ass)
One of the cats I've had in the past was a stray I found behind a shop where I used to work. All day I'd been hearing this *noise* out back. When I finally had time to investigate, I followed the unearthly sounds to find a little kitten yowling and crying underneath our storage shed. Pulled her out, took her home, and ended up with just about the sweetest cat you'd ever want to meet. "Shadow" passed away in '99.
Sorry, but I gotta take cats over dogs. You just can't look into those big blue kitten eyes and not feel your heart just melt!
Mike.