A cat managed to travel 40 miles from home after getting stuck in the engine compartment of a car.
Charlie, a five-year-old rescue cat from Grangetown, Sunderland, went missing on Sunday morning.
Owner Laura Carroll, 40, and her daughter searched the area and called his name as soon as they realized their pet was missing.
As time went on, they resorted to posting messages online, sharing a picture of Charlie along with a message asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact them.
Meanwhile, the sneaky cat had managed a 40-mile ride from home to Warkworth, Northumberland.
Charlie, a five-year-old rescue cat from Grangetown, Sunderland, went missing on Sunday morning, he was later found in an engine compartment
The orange and white cat managed to jump behind the grille of a car, with a photo of Charlie trapped inside the vehicle.
He did a good job of hiding out of sight, as the owner of the car had no idea that a cat was traveling with them the entire time.
Retirement home staff, who discovered the cat, spent over an hour trying to retrieve it before handing it over to a local shelter.
And remarkably, their volunteers managed to use social media to track down his owners, who then picked them up at 8:30 p.m. the same day.
Laura, mother of three, said: ‘He’s a house cat, so he doesn’t go out much or for long periods of time.
“I thought he might come back later in the day, but the kids were really worried.
“As soon as I saw the ‘found’ photo, I immediately knew it was him. And to see him found in Northumberland was unbelievable.
“I think he escaped from an open window. I have no idea how he managed to get into the car, and (we) will now chip him.
“He’s a very friendly and affectionate cat, so he would probably end up with anyone.”
Owner Laura Carroll added that her cat was ‘very lucky’ to survive the 52-minute ride without injury
Joanne said Charlie was picked up from her address at 8:30pm on Sunday evening by Laura’s ex-partner Andrew Carroll, (pictured) 40.
Laura, who works in administration, said she went looking for the cat early Sunday morning after realizing it had managed to sneak out of her house.
And she’d put up posters and made appeals on social media, hoping someone close to them would find him.
But the moggy had in fact ended up in a local resident’s car, who then drove for an hour to The Grange Nursing Home in Warkworth, Morpeth, where they work.
Kelly Stavers, 47, a housekeeper at the house, said she was one of the first to see the frightened moggy sticking out of the grille of her colleague’s vehicle.
She said: ‘He’s just an employee of a temp agency and doesn’t come that often, so we didn’t know whose car it was at first. But he was clearly distraught when he saw where the cat was.
“I don’t know how he got in there. We couldn’t comprehend it. It was just so strange. We thought we had to pull the car apart to get it out.
“I got some ham from the kitchen to try and entice him to come out. We ended up having to take the battery out of the car to get it out. It took an hour and 20 minutes.
After the stowaway tabby was discovered, he was handed over to JJ’s Cat and Kitten Rescue, based in Blyth and Morpeth, who posted about Charlie online
After checking the mischievous moggy for any injuries, the family traveled back home with Charlie, although this time he was in the passenger seat.
“And when we took him out, we didn’t know what to do with him. We couldn’t take him in because of the vulnerable people. But we gave him some milk and food.’
Laura told BBC news: ‘The kids were scared of him and my youngest kept asking ‘where’s Charlie?’ I thought he might come back, but since he’s a house cat, it was worrying.’
She added that her cat was “very lucky” to survive the 52-minute ride without injury.
After the stowaway tabby was discovered, he was handed over to JJ’s Cat and Kitten Rescue, based in Blyth and Morpeth, who posted about Charlie online.
Laura was subsequently told by family and friends that Charlie had been found. She added, “We’re still in shock that he went all the way there.”
After checking the mischievous moggy for any injuries, the family traveled back home with Charlie, although this time he was in the passenger seat.
Joanne Stewart, 50, a volunteer at the center, said they scanned the cat for a microchip but posted a Facebook appeal for his owners when they failed to find it.
She said, “We took him in and put him at ease. He was very dirty. But he was very friendly. He was clearly someone’s pet.
“We created a Facebook post and shared it with all of the local rescues and lost and found groups. It was the power of Facebook that reunited him with his owner.”
She added, “Despite his ordeal, Charlie wasn’t upset at all.
“I put him in a crate with a bed and some food, and I left him in our living room with my husband and he watched the English football game.
“But as soon as his owners told us his name, he immediately responded. We had to confirm it was their cat, of course, using photos to determine it was him.’
Laura’s cat was ‘very lucky’ to survive the 52-minute ride without injury and is happily back home with his family
After checking the mischievous moggy for any injuries, the family traveled back home with Charlie, although this time he was in the passenger seat.
Charlie likes to climb in usual places, so it’s not hard to see how he ended up in the dangerous situation
Joanne said Charlie was picked up from her address at 8:30 pm on Sunday by Laura’s ex-partner Andrew Carroll, 40.
And while the rescue went very smoothly, she warned other pet owners to microchip their animals in the future.
She added: “I stressed to him when they picked him up that he should be microchipped. It will become law next year.’
According to the RSCPA, microchipping is placing a small microchip under a pet’s skin with a unique code on it.
The microchip can be scanned and owner details appear making it easy to reunite lost pets with their loved ones as collars and tags can easily be lost and removed.
The charity also notes that it is required by law to microchip any dog over the age of eight weeks and continue to update your records.
Laura has since donated to the rescue center and said she will now have Charlie chipped.