LOL! HIS ENGINE WAS PURRING!

Normally, it's good news when a car's engine is purring - except when a cat is trapped inside.
A plucky and downright lucky feline used up at least one of its nine lives in the Bronx Monday when it miraculously survived a 2-mile drive while stuck inside the engine of a hybrid SUV, police said.

The cute tan-and-white tabby was freed from its trap by a pair of NYPD detectives - and appeared to emerge from the harrowing ordeal in good condition, though covered in engine grease.

Cops did not know when the cat, which is believed to be a stray, got stuck inside the engine of a silver 2005 Nissan Murano driven by Wilfredo Rodriguez, 44, the super of a building at Marcy Place and the Grand Concourse.

The cat was wedged inside the engine compartment when Rodriguez pulled away from Marcy Place yesterday and drove to a Buildings Department office on Arthur Ave. in East Tremont - a distance of roughly 2 miles, police said.

Rodriguez said that after he parked the car he continued to hear a rattling sound he had noticed during the trip. He investigated and quickly spotted the tabby's bushy tail and front right paw sticking out of the SUV's front end.

Rodriguez, who is allergic to cats, said he feared the worst for the feline. "I said, 'Oh my God! I killed a cat,'" he recalled, adding that he was very happy to see the cat's paw move.

Detectives Jeffrey King and Kris Cataldo of the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit responded to a 911 call shortly after 2 p.m.

As a small group of rapt onlookers watched, King and Cataldo freed the feline by removing the car's battery and several other parts, the police source said.

The cat was handed over to New York City Animal Care & Control. An AC&C official who evaluated the cat at the scene reported that it "appeared to be in good shape," said agency spokesman Richard Gentles.