A cat that was running loose on the street in Dongen has had quite an adventure. While she first attracted the attention of parents and children at a Dongen primary school by meowing, a few hours later she suddenly walked through the busy streets of The Hague. Presumably after she hitched a ride under the hood of a car for about ninety kilometers. “It’s a miracle that she survived the journey,” says John Buijs of the animal ambulance.
The young cat was walking around in a neighborhood in Dongen last week, where she caught the attention of Iris van Riel. “I was taking my children to school and the kitten came walking towards me. She started meowing and then she never left my side,” says Iris. The animal continued to follow her all day.
Because the cat started meowing louder and almost jumped into the car with Iris, she didn’t quite trust it. She decided to take the cat to the vet to see if the animal had a chip, but that turned out not to be the case. That’s why she hung a note on the cat’s collar, hoping the owner would contact her.
“I said: but Dongen has no central station at all.”
A few hours later, Iris indeed received a phone call. To her surprise, not from the owner, but from someone from The Hague. “She said she found her at the central station,” says Iris. “I said: but Dongen has no central station at all. It turned out that she had found her in The Hague. Then I became silent for a moment. I thought: how?!”
The Hague animal ambulance was called in and took the cat to the animal shelter in Breda. If the cat has an owner, he or she can come and pick it up there.
But how did that cat end up ninety kilometers away? Although Iris herself thinks that the animal got into someone’s home, the animal ambulance is convinced that the cat hitched a ride under the hood of a car. “That happens a lot at this time of year. We have seen this here four times in the past two weeks,” says animal ambulance spokesperson John Buijs.
“We recently pulled another cat out from under a hood that was covered in burns.”
According to him, it is special that the cat escaped unscathed. According to Buijs, she was just a bit stressed. “And that is really a miracle, because recently we also removed another cat from under a hood that was covered in burns. This cat was very lucky to be in a place where she survived the journey.”
At this time of year, cats are more likely to crawl under the hood of cars. The animal ambulance therefore warns to always check this before getting into the car. “When it gets cold, cats look for a sheltered spot and crawl into the bonnet via the wheels,” Buijs explains. “Give a few taps on the hood. And if you hear something while driving, stop immediately and call the animal ambulance.”
