Hit by a car travelling at up to 100kmh on State Highway 8 near Roxburgh, the Burmese became tightly wedged behind the grille and travelled for about 35km "plastered across the front of the car" until it stopped at Alexandra, where rescuers took half an hour to free the cat.
"He was remarkably unfazed by it all and, even more amazingly, uninjured," SPCA inspector Helen Saunders, of Alexandra, said.
Bekkum came within a whisker of losing one of his nine lives, after accidentally "hitching a ride" on Friday night.
"Some Dunedin people were driving to Wanaka and they thought they'd hit a rabbit, on the highway, this [the Alexandra] side of Roxburgh, in the 100kmh zone.
"They had no idea it was a cat until they stopped to use the toilet at Alexandra, and heard what sounded like a cat meowing, in the front of their car."
The Subaru's number plate was buckled by the collision and part of the front spoiler was broken by the impact, with the cat being forced behind the grille, "squashed in really tight," she said.
"You can only imagine what the wind chill was like, travelling at up to 100kmh at night, plastered across the front of the car ...
"I don't know how he remained so remarkably calm - he wasn't traumatised at all," Mrs Saunders said.
Fortunately, the cat was "well-covered - well-muscled and chunky" which helped him survive the impact.
Freeing him from the vehicle was no easy task.
Mrs Saunders was contacted about 10pm and brought bolt cutters to "attack the grille" but some local youths who were filling up their car with petrol at the nearby garage also came to help, with some more tools.
Between them, the group "dismantled some of the bottom of the car" and finally extracted the cat.
"And those lads even followed me to the vets, bless them, to check the cat was OK," she said.
Bekkum was checked at Central Vets, and aside from a scrape on one claw and some bruising, he was unscathed.
He spent the night at the SPCA cattery at Earnscleugh, as staff had no idea who his owners were.
The vet contacted Mrs Saunders the next day, to say a Burmese cat owned by Gaynor and Michael Crabbe, of Coal Creek, near Roxburgh, was on their books.
The Crabbes, who live beside the main highway, were phoned to see if their cat was missing - and he was.
They had not been worried by his disappearance, as it was common for him to vanish for a day or two.
After hearing the "hitch-hiking" cat's exploits, they travelled to the cattery on Saturday and there was a happy reunion as they confirmed it was their pet.
"Did you miss your Mum and Dad, did you?" Mrs Crabbe asked, as Bekkum cuddled into her arms when she picked him up.
The 7-year-old cat was fond of travelling in cars and on trailers, and occasionally even on top of cars, and had "hitched" a ride on several short journeys around Roxburgh, with the drivers unaware until they spotted him, she said.
"This was a big adventure and it's amazing to think he hasn't got a mark on him.
"It could've been a lot worse, so we just appreciate what everyone did, and we're happy to get him back in one piece."
When the Otago Daily Times called to check how Bekkum was faring yesterday, the Crabbes' son, Lyndon, said he was "fairly calm, as always ... he's a bit of a Garfield and pretty cruisy really".
