Kittens found living in woman's car engine compartment recovered safe

DEARBORN, Mich. (FOX 2) - A Dearborn woman's car engine purred Wednesday - but not in the way many would think.

"From underneath the car, it started meowing - since cars don’t usually do that, we decided to check it out," said Zac Shaw at Ziebart.

"I said excuse me?" said car owner Jillian Shay.

"I just remember being in there with a flashlight and seeing sets of little eyes and teeth and hearing them meow," Zac said.

Three, 7-week-old kittens were lodged in Jillian’s engine compartment, for who knows how long. 

"It was just miraculous how this whole thing played out," he said.

When the guys at Ziebart Automotive Experts in Dearborn called proud, ‘crazy cat lady’ Jillian on Wednesday - she knew exactly who the kittens belonged to - a stray named Shiva who she befriended a year ago.  

"I told her two days ago, 'You need to bring me your kittens Mama,'" Jillian said. "I didn’t expect her to do it this way,"  

Jillian drove her car for 15 minutes down Telegraph to Ziebart while the kittens were inside next to the engine, the whole time.

"Just with our hands and a lot of patience, we were able to get our hands up there and move the cats, helping them get to us," Zac said.

Video taken minutes after they were rescued, showed the kittens in good shape, with no sign of their perilous journey.

"Surprisingly the cats had almost nothing on them," Zac said. "We were covered in rust-proofing but the cats made it out, okay."

"We moved them one at a time, to the little house I have on my back porch and put them inside," Jillian said. "And she’s been in ever since." 

Shiva was reunited with her kittens - in much more comfortable accommodations. Thanks to some proud papas at Ziebart.

"You can tell the quality of a person by the way they treat animals. There you go," Jillian said.

Jillian said she wants to adopt out the family of kitties and their mom together, adding she has a few people lined up.