Sue Ziegler said it was fortunate her husband decided to check the oil in their SUV before they left for a holiday trip to lake property they own near Gerald.
At about 8 a.m. May 28, Scott Ziegler found a kitten in the engine block after he popped the hood to the couple’s 2014 GMC Yukon Denali in the garage of their home on Woodbine Court west of Arnold, Sue said.
“If you know my husband, he only opens the hood to get the oil changed,” Sue said. “It was a fluke. It was something from above for him to check it before we headed back out to the lake.”
Sue said the kitten likely climbed into the SUV’s engine during heavy rains between May 25 and May 27 while they were on a previous stay at the Gerald-area property.
Tracie Quackenbush, executive director at Open Door Animal Sanctuary in House Springs, who took the kitten from the couple after it was rescued, said there are numerous feral cats in Gerald.
“It ended up in their engine and rode all the way to St. Louis,” she said.
Quackenbush said the male kitten probably is a domestic medium hair.
She said Open Door is caring for the kitten, and employees there have named him “Horsepower.”
After the kitten has been fully vaccinated, the sanctuary will put him up for adoption, probably by June 16, Quackenbush said.
“He is in good condition,” she said. “It is a cute little thing. He is a gray, fluffy little guy. He is a little nervous. He probably came from a feral colony, and all of this is new to him. He is going to have a completely different life now.”
Sue said she called Rock Community Fire Protection District’s non-emergency phone number after Scott discovered the kitten stuck in the engine.
“I didn’t know if they could help, but they get them out of the trees,” she said. “It was stuck, and we didn’t know what to do.”
Rock Fire spokeswoman Stephanie Jackson said Capt. Stephen Orr and firefighters Tom Lowery and Andrew Woods responded to the home.
Sue said her son, Anthony Underwood, lives across the street and came over to help, bringing his children, Izzy and Ben Underwood, along.
She said Underwood brought over a jack that was used to raise the SUV, and the firefighters secured the Denali with boards. Underwood then got under the SUV, and with the firemen’s help, the kitten was removed.
Jackson said it took about 15 minutes to free the kitten.
“I call my son a hero because he came out with the cat,” Sue said. “He just jumped into action. The firemen were so gracious and great.”
She said the kitten never made any noise but was shaking after he was rescued from the engine.
Sue said she wanted to keep the kitten, but because she and her husband already have a chocolate lab and they were leaving for the weekend, it was better to turn over the kitten to the sanctuary.
“It was such a sweet kitten,” she said. “I am not a big cat person, but this one was very sweet.”