Within cat's whisker of death

JOY RIDER: The rescued cat

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Curiosity killed the cat – and a kitten that hitch-hiked in a Palmerston North car engine now has a broken back leg to half-prove the proverb.

The five-month-old tabby kitten climbed into the engine of Darnelle Struthers' car yesterday, while the car was parked outside her Freyberg St flat.

Miss Struthers drove to work in her usual style – "and believe me, I don't drive like a nana" – then a customer came in to ask why her car appeared to be meowing.

She lifted up the bonnet and up popped the kitten.

Central City Vets in Pitt St x-rayed the kitten and found it had a broken back left leg. The kitten is being kept comfortable while Miss Struthers and the clinic try to find its owner.

"We walked the neighbourhood and door-knocked, and we contacted the SPCA. Nobody knows anything about it," she said.

Veterinarian Martin Aldridge said the kitten's thigh bone had fractured, and he was getting advice on it from Massey University vet school's chief orthopaedic surgeon, Andrew Worth. Options for the kitten included fixing the leg, or amputating it. Mr Aldridge said he would wait 48 hours to give the owner a chance to be found and decide what should be done.

The kitten was well-socialised and very friendly, well fed and with a clean coat.

- © Fairfax NZ News