The seven-week-old kitty went on a 77km thrill ride yesterday, clinging to a garbage truck on a trip between Sydney and Unanderra.

Unbeknown to truckie Scott Wilson, 37, the kitten snuck into the bowels of his garbage truck before he took off down the highway from Chipping Norton on his morning rounds.

Among the grimy gears and mechanics of the truck's internal machinery, the cat scrambled to the battery which sits, exposed, centimetres from the wheels.

Mr Wilson discovered the kitten only after he heard a curious squeak from the innards of his truck.

He found it sitting atop the exposed battery housing, distressed and hanging on for dear life.

"He could have been there for hours. He was so scared he couldn't move," Mr Wilson said.

After a few moments trying to catch his feline passenger, Mr Wilson, from Kanahooka, managed to grab it from between two tyres and took it it to the nearby RSPCA shelter in Unanderra.

"He could've gone straight into the back wheels and it would've been squished - it would've been all over," he said.

"He was really scared and shaking and hissing and trying to bite me and scratch me."

Covered in battery grease, the cat arrived at the RSPCA in remarkably good shape and according to staff was lucky to be alive.

Animal attendant Jackie Bateman said the animal was scared, hungry, but in good shape.

"My thoughts were 'oh my God'. I couldn't believe it actually survived travel on a truck and in reasonable condition," she said.

"He seems okay now; very placid. He seems like he just wants to sleep at the moment."

Mr Wilson nicknamed the cat Lucky.

The RSPCA has already received inquiries about the kitten's future.