A KITTEN has lost its fight for life after spending two days stuck inside a car engine.

The ginger-white fluffball, nicknamed Brolga, rode around in the engine compartment as the driver tried to work out what the noise was.

When he eventually realised he had a feline passenger the young man called firefighters to free the traumatised animal.

The driver, who lives in Skipton, believes the six-week-old kitten was a stray he had spotted in Malham.

Chris Rawnsley, from Keighley Cat Care, which tried to save the cat, said the driver could hear a noise as he drove around but initially could not see anything.

She said: “I think Brolga had crawled up underneath the car. He was traumatised, terrified, dehydrated, and covered in oil.

“He had obviously been a stray, because he was covered in fleas.”

The vets did everything they could, but sadly he did not make it."

Brolga spent two nights at a vet’s surgery, receiving fluids and medicines to combat the effects of dehydration, then spent a fortnight convalescing with Mrs Rawnsley.

Speaking last week, Mrs Rawnsley said Brolga was responding well to the treatment, and putting weight on.

But this week she broke the news that the “adorable” fluffy ginger-white kitten had died.

Mrs Rawnsley said Keighley Cat Care had many other kittens and adult cats who needed new homes with local people.

She started Keighley Cat Care several years ago with a friend, and it is now a registered charity run by volunteers who foster cats and kittens in their own homes.

Mrs Rawnsley named the kitten after a man called Brolga, who is also known as Kangaroo Dundee for his work running a kangaroo sanctuary in Australia.

Brolga’s work at a 90-acre wildlife reserve in the bushland, occupied by a mob of 25 kangaroos, was highlighted in a BBC2 series.

Anyone who can offer a new home for a cat should contact Mrs Rawnsley on 01274 568380.

Keighley Cat Care is also appealing for tombola prizes and jewellery, such as unwanted Christmas presents, to sell at fundraising events. Anyone who can help should email sara.j.daniel@googlemail.com or call 07860 889766.

The charity also needs tins of cat food, because the current collecting bin at Keighley’s Morrisons supermarket attracts only enough to feed half of its cats and kittens.