Kitten rescued from engine after 4-mile ride to Leechburg

Sue Wadsworth got a furry surprise Tuesday morning.

A 1-pound kitten managed to get inside the engine of her SUV and take a four-mile ride from Allegheny Township to Leechburg, where it was pulled out unharmed after an hourlong rescue effort.

“It was so cute,” Wadsworth said of the kitten.

Wadsworth, 61, of Allegheny Township, discovered there was a kitten in her SUV while at a doctor’s appointment in Leechburg.

Armstrong Primary Care Center receptionist Diane King said the mother of another patient alerted her of the kitten. King said the kitten could be seen and heard through the front grill of the vehicle.

“The poor little thing was scared and hissing and trying to claw,” King said.

Wadsworth was in one of the exam rooms when King came to get her keys.

“Somebody said, ‘There’s a cat under your hood,’” Wadsworth recalled her saying. “It was quite a morning.”

King went outside and popped the hood, but wasn’t able to get to the kitten that way. So she called Romeo’s Tire Center, also in Leechburg, for help. It took about an hour to rescue the kitten.

“(It’s) pretty bizarre that the kitten traveled the way it did without being hurt,” King said.

Romeo’s owner Steve Babyak said he was working on an alignment when his secretary told him the shop had received a distress call. He thought maybe someone had broken down, but learned it was about the kitten.

Babyak went over to see how he could help. He used a plant support stick to try and entice the kitten out, but that didn’t work because the kitten started playing with the stick.

“I was trying to keep it from going into the engine again. I was afraid it was going to hide in there and we wouldn’t be able to get it out,” Babyak said.

Babyak said one of his employees donned gloves and reached in through the grill to pull the kitten out. It was tiny enough to fit through the grill without a problem.

“Once we got it out, it actually started purring,” Babyak said.

Before the rescue, Wadsworth said she had dropped off her fiance at his job before her 8:30 a.m. doctor’s appointment. At the time, the two heard a cat meowing, but didn’t realize it was coming from the SUV.

She drove home before heading to her appointment and again heard meowing when she got there. She called for the cat, but it didn’t answer her.

When she parked her SUV at the doctor’s office, she heard more meowing.

“I thought I was losing it or something,” Wadsworth said.

Wadsworth said she wanted to keep the kitten, but was unable to because her trailer park doesn’t allow pets.

King was asked if she wanted the kitten, but declined because she recently got two cats.

The kitten was taken to Romeo’s, where employees fed it and gave it some water. It was later picked up by Robin Patton, who rescues and fosters cats. She named the kitten Romeo because of Romeo’s Tires. She said he’s doing well.

“He’s already a little love bug. Just purrs and purrs and purrs,” said Patton, who lives in Gilpin. “He wants constant attention.”

Wadsworth said she is happy the kitten will be taken care of.

Romeo should be ready to be adopted within four to six weeks. Anyone who wishes to adopt Romeo can call Patton at 412-977-8094.