Cat hitches a lift to Cork under car bonnet

It could have been a cat-astrophe but luckily, it’s come to a purrfect end.

Meet Maude, the kitty cat stowaway, who must have used up at least eight of her nine lives on the road trip of a lifetime.

Maud emerged unscathed yesterday after hitching a lift from Dublin to Cork hidden in the engine of some German tourists’ rental car.

“We were leaving Dublin when we heard a noise but we didn’t think it was a cat,” said Svenja Dabbert.

From Flensburg in northern Germany, she arrived in Ireland on Saturday with her friend Anna Scheffler and her boyfriend Ronald Brix.

They enjoyed some sight-seeing in the capital before hitting the road for Cork on Wednesday.

“Then when we stopped at the Rock at Cashel and we heard the sound again. But still, we didn’t believe it was a cat,” said Svenja.

The holiday-makers spent that evening in a B&B in the Douglas area of Cork but heard the strange sound coming from the car again yesterday morning.

It was only then they realised that it might be an animal stuck in their car.

They scoured the vehicle before eventually finding the terrified kitten wedged between the engine block and one of the front wheels.

“We opened the bonnet and saw her sitting there, and tried to catch her. She was very frightened,” said Svenja.

When they finally managed to coax the kitty out, they were delighted to find she was totally unharmed.

“She had been in there for 263km. It’s just unbelievable. She was a little bit frightened but unhurt.”

They dropped Maude off at the Cork Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals centre in Mahon yesterday afternoon before continuing on their holiday to Limerick.

Maude will undergo a full health check and will receive vaccinations.

She will also be scanned to see if she is microchipped in a bid to trace her owner.

If she isn’t chipped, the CSPCA will microchip her before offering her up for adoption.

The German holidaymakers are due to return home on Sept 28 — without any stowaways.