A cat which had to be rescued for the second time in a day after climbing into the engine of a Vauxhall car in Radford has been named Astra by his rescuers.
The eight-week-old ginger and white cat was found abandoned by a passerby in a box, along with four littermates, in Randal Street today (August 10).
The member of the public picked up the box and was walking to the RSPCA’s Nottingham branch in nearby Hyson Green when one of the kittens jumped out – and straight under the parked car.
Staff from the branch tried to get him out, but he climbed inside the car engine and refused to move.
Jo Maddock, manager of the branch, said: “We tried to coax him out but with no luck, so we called an RSPCA officer to see if she could help us.
“It quickly became clear that we needed more help as the kitten had got himself stuck right in there. We thought about jacking the car up but we were concerned about crushing him as the gap he managed to cram himself into was tiny.
“We are on a busy road and we didn’t want to risk him being spooked and running out in front of the traffic, so the fire service were called.”
The fire crews carefully jacked up the car but it soon became clear that they weren’t able to free the kitten without taking off one of the car’s wheels.
“Thankfully this worked and he was safely released,” said Jo.
“He was a little shocked – and very dusty – by the ordeal but other than that he was fine and we were able to reunite him with his littermates.
“The kitten has now been named Astra, after the car he was rescued from. His littermates, three brothers and a sister, have also been named after Vauxhall cars – Victor, Nova, Adam and Viva.
“The fire service were great and we’d like to thank them and the lady whose car Astra took refuge in,” said Jo.
All the cats have been checked over by a vet and will be going into the RSPCA’s care for eventual re-homing.
