ABOVE IMAGE: This ball of fluff, passionately called Kitty, is lucky to be alive after snuggling under the hood of a Chippewa Valley Technical College work truck, just to be found by 2 upkeep service technicians who rapidly discovered the kitten a good home.
As Andy Fenner was concluding his workday, he moved behind the wheel of his work truck to put it away for the night.
“As I was driving, I could hear this little meowing going on, and I didn’t really know where it was coming from…”
Along with the purr of the engine, he heard an unique cry for help – the meow of a small kitten.
“As I was driving, I could hear this little meowing going on, and I didn’t really know where it was coming from,” he said. “I thought there was a cat in the cab of the truck.”
Fenner, an upkeep specialist at Chippewa Valley Technical College, parked his truck near fellow coworker Paul Soden, who informed Fenner to cut the engine.
“When he pulled up, I walked out of the shed. He’s like, ‘You’re not going to believe this,’” Soden remembered.
Fenner popped the hood, which’s when Soden revealed a black ball of fluff huddled on the battery attempting to remain warm, the males said.
“She was freezing and scared,” Soden said.
Fenner did a little coaxing to get the kitten untangled from the engine, then he took it inside CVTC’s Transportation Education Center on the west side of Eau Claire and warmed it up by means of snuggles.
It appears that interest may have saved this cat, due to the fact that temperature levels the night of Thursday, Feb. 2, dipped to a low of 3 degrees and seemed like 13 degrees listed below absolutely no. Fenner said he drove his work truck for an hour or more that day, making the engine great and warm, most likely drawing in the kitten.
Saving the kitten from freezing temperature levels was the very first order of business. Then what?
“I’m not a big cat guy, but as I was holding onto her and she was purring against me, I thought I was probably bringing a kitty home,” Fenner joked.
Soden’s partner dislikes cats, however he said his mom may have taken the cat.
The males didn’t need to think of it for long, due to the fact that when they informed their manager, Ben Martinez, about the kitten, he occurred to be in a virtual conference with Vince Mussehl, CVTC’s director of library services. Mussehl overheard the turmoil and let the cat out of the bag that his family might take the kitten.
“Ben (Martinez) said he had to go figure this cat thing out, and I said, ‘OK, well, send me a picture because we’re kind of in the market for a kitten,’” Mussehl said. “We were waiting until spring or summer, but I thought this is the perfect opportunity right now.”
Martinez sent Mussehl an image of the pint-sized fur ball, and Mussehl quickly ended up being the happy owner of the CVTC cat.
Mussehl, who has had the kitten for a week and called her Kitty, said he’s relatively sure the feline is a roaming due to the fact that of her disposition. He will understand for sure at the vet appointment later on this month when the cat is looked for a microchip.
For now, Mussehl and his kids are taking pleasure in the addition to their family.
“When I brought her home, the first thing she did was eat quite a bit,” he said. “She hid under the furniture for the whole weekend. She’s still pretty skittish. I imagine it might be a bit of PTSD from the truck situation, but she’s definitely warming up to us.”
