Anglesey cat's 30 minute car engine trip Published duration 12 December 2010

image caption Giggs was enticed into the car engine seeking warmth, it is thought

A cat which crawled into a car engine space to keep warm has survived a 30 minute journey after its unwitting owner travelled to work.

The black cat called Giggs was found after his owner's colleagues heard a meowing noise coming from her car.

Giggs's owner Cerian Griffith, from Anglesey, said despite missing a few claws, the cat was unscathed.

And incredibly Giggs did the same thing a second time, but was found before Ms Griffith left home.

"I hadn't thought anything about the fact that I hadn't seen the cat before I left for work," said Ms Griffith, who works at Ysgol David Hughes secondary school in Menai Bridge.

"A colleague said he'd heard a meowing noise coming from my car but I thought he was pulling my leg, until my mum sent me a text to say the cat was missing."

Ms Griffith said she immediately put two and two together.

"I went across the yard shouting 'puss, puss' but there was no response and I thought he must have been a goner," she said.

When she opened the bonnet however "a head popped up" and Giggs was perched to the side of the Vauxhall Corsa's engine.

"He was just sitting there, and I can't understand how he managed to stay there as my journey involves going around a few roundabouts and along the A55," she added.

Ms Griffith said she then had to "embarrassingly" ask the head teacher for permission to take the cat home.

"He was lovely about it, and the cat fell asleep as he was being driven home," she added.

'Fast asleep'

Despite being 13-years-old, and not in the best of health, Giggs survived unscathed, apart from missing "a couple of claws".

The experience has not made him any wiser though as he was again found in the engine a second time.

"My mum said she'd seen him near the car and for me to check," she said.

"I didn't think he'd do it again, but there he was, fast asleep.

"I've no idea how many lives he has, but that one journey must have used up at least three," she added.

An RSPCA spokeswoman said it was not uncommon during cold weather for small animals to crawl beneath cars and climb up inside the engine compartment, seeking warmth and shelter.