Car engine was purring for a very good reason

Majella McBride with Nova at Divers Hyundai, Letterkenny..

WHEN a car rolled into Diver’s Hyundai garage in Letterkenny purring, it wasn’t just the engine!
Majella McBride from Meendernasloe, Annagry, dropped her 162 Tucson off for a service on Wednesday afternoon and started shopping. Then her phone rang.
“Do you own a black cat by the name of Nova?” the voice at the other end of the phone asked.
Her daughter’s five-month-old cat, which has been renamed Lucky, had just been found trapped in a car engine when the mechanic lifted the bonnet to start his work.
“I was shocked. I thought that they were winding me up,” Majella explained.
A Home Help, Majella had called to two clients more than ten kilometres apart on bad, bumpy roads that morning before making the fifty kilometre journey to Letterkenny.
It appears that Nova, who had been spayed on Monday, climbed into the engine and nestled itself on top of the battery.
“My first concern was that the cat had been harmed and, if so, how could I tell my daughter Lauren? She would have killed me but, thankfully, she’s perfect.
“The garage rang me when I was in the town and asked did I have a cat named Nova – her name tag is around her neck. I still can’t believe that she’s alive. I was up some really bad country roads this morning before coming to Letterkenny but as Terence (Diver) said the Hyundai has a great suspension,” she said.
“She really is a lucky black cat and most definitely has nine lives,” she added.
The mechanic, Jacob DeCook, who opened up the bonnet to find the scared pet staring back at him, said that she had a ‘lucky escape’.
“I was more surprised than shocked. Something similar happened to me once before but the outcome wasn’t as happy,” he said.
Jacob and his workmates placed Nova in a box, cut a hole in the lid and gave her some milk before phoning Majella to relay the good news.
Cats will often climb under car bonnets, attracted by the warmth of the engine – making a snug, if highly dangerous, place for a nap.
All’s well that ends well for this particular four-legged adventurer, eight lives still to go.

Lucky black cat Nova after her unexpected journey from Annagry to Letterkenny.

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