AN ADVENTUROUS cat used up one of its nine lives after travelling almost 100 miles hiding under a car.

It is thought the courageous kitten had travelled as many as 85 miles before being discovered under the engine of an Audi A3 in a Lake District car park.

The owner of the car said he had driven to Cumbria from Manchester but had not realised the young cat had hitched a ride along the way.

Now, an appeal has been launched to track down the owner of the unchipped kitten.

Keith Ronson, a salesman at the Biketreks shop in Ings, next to the carpark where the cat was found, said a couple who were en-route to Kent entered his office to alert his colleagues of the unannounced traveller’s whereabouts.

He said: “We were going about our daily business when all of a sudden a lady came in shouting: ‘There’s a cat out there’.

“’I can see a tail poking out of the Audi in the car park.’”

Mr Ronson said co-worker John O’Keefe rescued the cat by grabbing it from the axle it was clinging to.

“It must’ve been in the engine department - God knows for how long,” he said.

Mr Ronson said the Audi driver left before giving any further clues as to where the cat could be from.

“We were so preoccupied with getting the cat into the office and checking it was alright that we didn’t ask the owner of the car for his name or where he had been travelling from beyond Manchester city centre,” he said.

Mr Ronson said he and his colleague found the cat ‘cold and scared but well-fed - which made us think he must have an owner.’

After checking the cat and making sure it was calm, the pair drove the kitten to Oakhill Vet Group in Windermere.

Tracey Deeley, a registered veterinary nurse, said: “We’ve christened him ‘Sprout’ with it being the time of year it is.”

“He’s not castrated. We think he’s only four or maybe five months maximum.

“Hopefully the owners come forward.

“He’s a really friendly kitten, so even if they don’t someone will.”

Oakhill Group is urging anybody with relevant information to contact: vets@oakhillvetgroup.co.uk.

“There is a moral to this story,” Mr Ronson added.

“Chip your pets.”