What do blogs say about animals in cars?

Call out the national guard!  This is a serious problem...

Boston headline: "Car-eating rats terrorize city"

And from the blogosphere...
"A squirrel completely shredded my engine harness, hoses, brakes, oxygen sensors etc. $3700 I paid the $1000 deductible and Geico did the rest. Over a month in the shop. 4 months later he came back! The bastard did it again! another month and another $1000 deductible. These critters are certainly determined. 2 yrs ago they chewed a hole near my a/c and came in the house! I tried fox urine powder, mothballs. I think I really need a cheap effective alternative like sticky paper surprises. " Link

"Same Problem here. Not sure if its groundhogs, rats, rabbits or all of the above. I have moth balls under my hood and have even used LOTS of powerful animal repellent AND traps. It is not stopping them. What am I supposed to do!"

As I said in the previous post, forget the mothballs and hot sauce.  Try traps, clearing clutter, and denying them food.

"I started my car this morning and heard some crawling noise coming from the engine. I got out of the car and saw a raccoon running out from under the car. It was responsible for doing about $800 in damage a few weeks ago. The raccoon chewed up the insulation insulating the hood from the engine and also a hose. Hopefully sprinkling cayanne under the hood will fix the problem. I live in a wooded area where there are a lot of wildlife."

"I got out raised the hood and caught glipse of a fuzzy squirrels tail escaping down the backside of the engine. I hate to kill the little guy because I'm afraid it's the one my 8 year old daughter has named "Chatter Box." He is ruining my car. Everyone at work thought I was crazy when I told them about it. I think I'll try the moth balls. "

"A rat bit a water line in a house in California, the damage was $100,000 dollars."

"How about a rabbit? The technician found a rabbit in our engine compartment sitting on top of the engine. The menace chewed my car wires first (major damage)with the estimated cost of over $2,000.00. I couldn't figure out how it could have such big teeth mark in my car. My car is still in the shop waiting for a wire harness.
And then this week got in my husband's car and cost $252.44 to repair the minor damage. The rabbit traveled 16 miles to our first stop and 22 miles to the shop. He now has a new place of residence and I hope it doesn't find it way back to us.  Comprehensive insurance with some insurance companies will cover the repair cost."  Link

The perpetrator--$2252

Cats as culprits

"I too, live in a fairly rural area, and I have noticed that young feral cats have been gnawing away at my husbands car. He believed it to be rodents, but I sat outside for almost an hour every day for about a week when he would get home, and the only thing I ever saw were those cats. It wasn't until he started the car (unknowingly) with one left inside that I realized that they were the culprits."  Thanks to Krysi for her careful observations.  However, cats aren't noted for gnawing--maybe the cats were there looking for the rats?

Cows under the hood???

A man's car stopped dead along the old Wisconsin country road. He got out of his car, lifted the hood, and looked at the motor. Just then, a big black and white cow came along and stopped beside him. The cow also peered under the hood. "Your trouble is probably the carburetor", said the cow.

The startled man jumped back and ran down the road until he met a farmer. He told the farmer what had happened. The farmer asked, "Was the cow black and white?" "Yes, yes!" cried the motorist. "Oh, don't pay any attention to Ol' Bossy. She doesn't know a thing about modern cars." By Terri H. from NV