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Animal control should be able to come and try to remove them.
We have some outdoor cats... one likes to get on the car... I like that my cars have under engine covers, I don't think they could get up in the engine if they wanted to, but I think they could in my parents cars, but it has never been an issue. I do know that about 20 years ago a cat got in the engine of my dads car and it got in the belts. It didnt make it.
Aha! I like the compressed air idea, thank you for that. I don't own a compressor but my neighbor does. I wonder if canned compressed air would work?
We're having a freakishly warm fall and that van hadn't been driven for a few days...I think they're also attracted to the engine because it's full of little spaces and up off the ground. Simply leaving the hood open would make it less attractive but I don't suppose that's a very good idea on a regular basis!
The engine compartments in my other two vehicles are more spacious and I wouldn't have a problem finding and removing small kittens in them but this van ('99 Chevy Astro) has a narrow, cramped engine compartment and four ounce black and grey kittens can easily disappear.
Animal control where I live wouldn't bother with cats and sometimes don't even accept them at the "shelter." Don't get me started on our local animal control. I have live traps and a neighbor and I trap ferals and get them vaccinated and spay/neutered at a low-cost mobile clinic. And we, ummm, feed them AND I have insulated cat shelters at the back of my property in the wooded area. So there are cats around here although it's thankfully rare that I've had this problem.
Best way it to prevent if from happening. Need to put something under the hood that cats despise. Try keeping some moth balls under the hood in a little mesh bag. Another way might be to spray an animal repellent under the hood. The mother cat will carry the kittens up in there because it offers protection and is warm, but if there is something she doesn't like about the environment, she won't go there. She'll go in your barn instead. The mothballs might help keep mice and pack rats out also.
Backstory: It is quasi-rural where I live and there are a lot of feral cats. I trap those that I can and get them spay-neutered but still, kittens happen.
Yesterday morning I was about to get into my van to go to work and noticed a teensy kitten diving up under the van. Opened the hood and there were three teensy kittens there; they dived into the bowels of the engine and wedged themselves in. Flashlights, banging, sounding the horn and a spritz with the hose didn't dislodge them (I had a friend watching so we know they didn't leave the van's engine compartment.) We couldn't see them but we know they were there. Mama cat was being agitated by the trees but didn't come close.
So I left the hood open for the day and took my other van to work and yesterday evening we pretty well determined mama cat had taken the kittens away, so I moved the van to the other side of the property where cats don't go.
Having once had the unhappy experience of inadvertently killing a kitten that had gone up into the engine, this isn't something I want to repeat. And little wild kittens will wedge themselves into the tiniest of spaces and will NOT be dislodged by loud noises etc.
So my question is, does anyone know of a way to either prevent or dislodge cats or kittens from the engine compartment of a vehicle? I'm personally not open to suggestions that result in maimed, injured or dead felines.
Since you are a member of the spay-neuter society, you probably don't want to hear my solution. It begins with .22
River: Thanks, I really wasn't thinking in terms of a repellent but I may get some citronella oil or cat repellent spray (although it may make my van smell a bit weird LOL!)
don1945, thank you.
ilkhd2, I haven't a clue (hey, that rhymes.)
Southern man, I am aware of your "solution" and no, it doesn't interest me much. Thanks for playing, though.
Aha! I like the compressed air idea, thank you for that. I don't own a compressor but my neighbor does. I wonder if canned compressed air would work?
We're having a freakishly warm fall and that van hadn't been driven for a few days...I think they're also attracted to the engine because it's full of little spaces and up off the ground. Simply leaving the hood open would make it less attractive but I don't suppose that's a very good idea on a regular basis!
Best way it to prevent if from happening. Need to put something under the hood that cats despise.
I believe that's why Plain Ole Fabreze works so well . . . IT STINKS.
In addition to stinking . . . it is relatively inexpensive, easy to use / apply and available at your local Wal-Mart or Target.
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I have live traps and a neighbor and I trap ferals and get them vaccinated and spay/neutered at a low-cost mobile clinic. And we, ummm, feed them AND I have insulated cat shelters at the back of my property in the wooded area. So there are cats around here although it's thankfully rare that I've had this problem.
More people should care about animals like you did.
