If it will fit and not be in contact with the bonnet when shut etc. it should be ok as long as it has the same or higher CCA and Ah rating. Make sure that the securing bracket can hold it firmly.

Could have been worse - could have been half a cat which didn't bound off!

Out of interest, have you made enquiries as to whether anyone is missing a cat? Not a cat person myself (prefer dogs) but it is hopefully someone's loved pet and they will be missing it.

This model is well known for piston ring wear . There were foc rebuild engines..

The oil consumption issues affecting 1zz 1.8, 3zz 1.6 & 4zz 1.4 engines is caused by a combination of several issues, leading Toyota to make several changes to the engines up to around mid 2005 where they managed to cure the issues,

1. Insufficient oil capacity, pre 2005 engines only came with 3.7 litres of oil, this caused the oil to remain very hot all the time reducing the cooling affect the oil has on the back of the pistons. The continued high oil temps causes the oil to degrade and sludge excessively between service oil changes.

Toyota increased the oil capacity from 3.7 to 4.7 litres reducing the oil temps in the engine. ( EDIT On post 2005 cars Toyota increased oil capacity to 4.2 litres, On pre 2005 cars which had the official modifications carried out due to excessive oil consumption the oil capacity was raised to 4.7litres except for MR2's which stayed at 3.7litres due to the compact / shallow sump fitted to them )

2. Poor piston design, the rear of the piston only had 4 oil ways allowing the hot oil coming from the piston ring oil scrapers to pass away from the piston rings. This meant that the oil stayed at the hottest part of the piston crown for too long exacerbating issue # 1 which in turn allowed the oil ways to sludge up. Once sludging started the oil would eventually start to burn and harden around the rings this started to wear away at the bores eventually misshaping them. Due to the Nikosil coating applied to the bores they should not be rebored or honed meaning Toyota replaced any block showing even the slightest of damage.

Toyota redesigned the pistons to include 8 oil ways which allowed the oil to pass away quicker.

3. The use of poor quality or overly thick oils (thicker than 5w30) increased the likely hood of the issues above occurring. Toyota noted that even dealers where using oils such as 10w40 and quickly pointed out that although the owners manual listed 10w40 it was for warmer climates and that 5w30 was the preferred grade and insisted that dealers use 5w30 when servicing and repairing #zz engines.

4. Poor piston ring design, In an attempt to reduce friction, increase efficiency and lower emissions the engine designers profiled the piston rings to a sharp point reducing the contact point on the bore, this on its own only increased oil consumption slightly but when combined with issues 1,2 & 3 caused the piston rings not scrape the overly thick oils effectively.

New piston rings where designed with a larger contact area and higher ring tension.

Initially Toyota fitted new blocks along with modified pistons, rings, thermostat ( to lower engine running temp ) and a modified dipstick ( to show the new 4.7litre levels) they also recovered the old blocks eventually leading to them switching the approved repair method to remanufactured short blocks fully assembled with the modified parts.

Cheers...

Find one with nice pink coolant, healthy looking oil

I find that one of the most remarkable sentances I have read in recent times considering the poster openly admits he never changes his coolant and rarely changes his oil....

Freelander 1's are common for centre diff/VCU problems. The Viscous fluid can deteriorate with time and mileage, leading to symptoms of juddering/grabbing at low speed with steering look on.
Dont leave it for too long as this puts additional stress on the front diff and can lead to failure of that as well.
They are very sensitive to tyre circumference difference, are all the tyres the same make and size with equal tread depth? You can't just put a pair of tyres on these vehicles!
Most Freelander 1's by now have had there prop shaft removed to make them front wheel drive only. Then the prop gets re-fitted if the snow comes!

Chris.