7-week-old tuxedo kitten hides in a car wheel well during brutal Texas heat and somehow hitches a ride with exactly the right person

Sarah Brown • Writer and Editor

Sep 10, 2026 8:45 AM EDT

Imagine stopping at a convenience store on the way to a doctor's appointment and leaving with one extra passenger tucked into the car.

While her daughter, Tina, ran inside the store, one woman started hearing some seriously loud meows. After getting out to investigate, she traced the noise to the passenger-side rear wheel well. Yep, there was a kitten in there.

Thankfully, Tina managed to get the tiny tuxedo out in about three minutes. Meet Altima, the approximately 7 or 8-week-old kitten who apparently decided regular transportation wasn't exciting enough.

The scary part is that nobody knows where Altima actually climbed aboard. The store was around 15 miles from one home and more than 20 miles from the other. Considering the Texas Panhandle had been dealing with temperatures over 100°F, we don't even want to think about how that ride could have ended. This little tuxie picked a pretty dangerous place for an adventure and got incredibly lucky.

And if a random kitten is going to emerge from your wheel well, having years of fostering experience is about as convenient as it gets. Her rescuer already had everything needed to care for the unexpected arrival. Altima got a bath, had no fleas somehow, went through quarantine, received her first kitten vaccine, and already has her spay appointment planned for October.

Now that the serious stuff is handled, Altima can focus on the important business of being ridiculously cute.

Her personality is still loading, but we already know a few things. She purrs loudly, drools, wants to suck on her hooman's earlobe, and sleeps curled into shapes that have earned her the title of "tuxedo pretzel."

Not bad for a kitten whose day started inside a wheel well and ended with her own foster setup.

Altima definitely chose the most dramatic possible way to get herself rescued.

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Now that is one seriously flexible kitty. We’re not entirely sure how Altima managed to twist herself into a full-on tuxedo pretzel, but she certainly looks comfortable with her choices. Cats already seem to treat bones as optional, and this little girl is starting early. Legs going in every direction, paws tucked who knows where, and somehow she can still fall asleep like this is a completely normal position. We’d need a chiropractor after five minutes, but Altima makes it look easy.
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Altima might be one of the most fitting names a cat has ever received. If you’re going to be discovered hiding in a car wheel well after hitching a mystery ride, you pretty much have to get a car-themed name out of the deal. Now every time someone asks where her name came from, there’s a whole story behind it. Hopefully this Altima will be spending the rest of her life parked safely on the couch instead of anywhere near another wheel.
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Altima is already such a little cutie, so just imagine how adorable she’s going to be when she grows up. Those tiny paws will get bigger, her personality will really start coming out, and hopefully she’ll keep some of those ridiculous pretzel sleeping positions. She’s still just a baby with plenty of growing to do, but we can already tell she’s going to turn into one seriously cute cat. Her foster hooman better keep the camera ready.