September 5, 2008

The cat, Bella, survived a 75-mile drive on her owner's spare tire under the truck's bed. (Pet Pulse Photo Illustration by Mike Lloyd)

GILBERT, Ariz. -- There is nothing unusual about Gil Smith's cat, Bella, using his truck's spare tire as a hiding space, but the feline recently remained there for a 75-mile ride and managed to survive.

Smith was heading from his home in Gilbert to Kearny, Ariz., for business. After his two-and-a-half-hour journey, he got out of the truck and heard what he first thought was a cat in distress.

Then Smith realized with a "sinking feeling," he says, that the noise was coming from Bella.

"I have to admit when she got out of that truck, she was kind of like a drunken sailor," Smith said. "She didn't have her sea legs yet."

Bella, was hysterical, shaky, dehydrated and tired, but unhurt and ate all food offered to her, Smith says. She had taken a nap on the truck's spare tire, which sits on a frame under the truck. Bella was smart enough to know not to jump off the tire as the truck was moving, Smith says.

"She had an opportunity to jump out from there, [but] she would have been so far from home we would have lost her," he said. "The fact that she stayed so close to the truck saved her.

"She's a special cat, very smart. She knew she would be in trouble if she left that truck," Smith said.

As he tried to coax Bella out from her hiding place, Smith says he was worried she would run away.

"There was all of this awful noise coming from this cat, she was hysterical," Smith said.

"She loves to get up on that spare tire to hang out, it's kind of a safe place for her, particularly after it rains," he said. "And whenever I start up that truck in the morning, I always let it run for a few minutes so I can make sure all the animals are clear."

Understanding the necessity of getting his cat home after her ordeal, rather than lug her around rural Arizona in his truck, Smith canceled the business meetings he planned to attend.

"I apologized because I had five appointments with clients that day," Smith said. "I had to take the cat back. I couldn't keep her six or seven hours in a hot truck.

"Things like this remind you that we all get caught up in our work and business, but those things are not as important as other things, in this case a little cat."

An outdoor cat, Bella was adopted by Smith and his wife, Kris, a few years ago, and has a special place in Kris' heart.

"I knew I had two choices: bring the cat home or get a divorce," Smith joked.

Either way, Smith said he has added a new step to his morning routine.

"I check that truck," he said. "Every time I back out of the driveway, I look at that wheel well."

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The East Valley Tribune and KPHO contributed to this article.