“I’d be scared, too …”
Last fall, Sherwood Cooke Jr., owner of Royalty Auto Service in Georgia, received a curious call from a local car dealership. A Mercedes-Benz was making strange sounds — but this time, it wasn’t an engine problem.
“They said they heard a cat while test driving it,” recalled Cooke’s son, Sherwood III, in a TikTok. “I’m dead serious.”
Skeptical but intrigued, Cooke approached the vehicle, listening for the loud meowing that had been reported. At first, all seemed quiet. Then, unmistakably — a tiny cry for help.
“Oh, you are in here,” Cooke said gently. “I do see you, and you’re in a bad spot. Oh, thank you for letting me hear you.”
Peering into the engine bay, Cooke spotted a frightened, gray kitten wedged deep within the car’s inner workings. She hissed at the sight of her rescuers — two grown men leaning into her hiding spot — but they understood her fear.
“I’d be scared, too,” Cooke said.
The kitten was trapped in an impossible-to-reach nook under the hood. So, Cooke and his son carefully pushed the car into the shop, lifted it, and worked from below. Without being able to see her, Cooke reached into the car’s undercarriage, speaking softly as he felt his way through tight crevices. After several minutes, he got a grip on the tiny body.
With incredible care, he pulled the kitten free. She was finally safe.
“Look at how pretty you are,” Cooke said, holding her close. “[A] shop cat in the making.”
Back in the garage, the shop’s resident dog, Tink, was instantly smitten. Watching Tink lovingly dote on the kitten, the family made an easy decision: they were going to keep her.
“I told you, we needed a shop cat,” Sherwood III laughed. “Now, you got her.”
The kitten was soon taken to the vet, where she got a clean bill of health and a name as fitting as could be: Mercedes.
Now, Mercedes spends her days helping around the garage and her evenings cuddling up at home with the Cooke family — including their other cat, Maggie May. Though her first week was packed with new faces, barking dogs, and the clatter of tools, Mercedes took it all in stride.
“This cat fears nothing,” Cooke said. “She’s tough.”
But under that tough exterior, Mercedes is as loving as ever — especially with Tink, who’s formed an unbreakable bond with her feline “baby.”
“We gotta make sure Tink stays happy,” Cooke smiled. “Because she thinks that she’s her baby. Tinker loves her Mercedes.”