Klepto Cats

It's pretty funny actually. We have a 'feral' family living on our back porch. Callie, the mommy, and Tiger and Smudgie the 9 month old male kittens. (all spayed/neutered!)

Every once in a while they would bring us "gifts" they caught such as long dead birds. They had a long dead and petrified squirrel carcus that they would play with all the time. The tail was totally intact. t was pretty freaky. My husband would throw it out in the alleyway and the next day it was back.

Since about a month ago we've noticed that every morning there is a gift at our porch door. Unfortunately these gifts belong to our neighbors. We have a collection of 3 gardening gloves, 2 dog toys, 1 t-shirt (I have NO idea how they dragged that into the yard...it was heavy) and many other odds and ends. If this keeps up we're going to have to keep a "Lost and Found" box at our front door for our neighbors to collect their goods.

I just thought I'd share. We know they love us and this is their way to thank us for caring for them and loving them.

OMG...that is soooo funny...I have to share this with you because it is very similiar. My brother had a cat...Raskal who was an indoor/outdoor cat....he would show up every morning with a "gift" for my parents. At first it was birds, moles etc....but after a while...he started bringing plastic flower planters, bags with orange peels and he even brought a bag with barbie clothes (obviously the neighbor's girl had left that out). He would always leave these 'gifts' at the door and catawal until my mom would come out to collect the 'gift'. I miss Raskal...he did several years ago. The neighborhood has reported that the number of moles, birds etc has been on the rise and they have had no disappearing bags of barbie clothes....however, they do miss Raskal.

Katie

I've had klepto-Siamese for many years ... one in particular that comes to mind was my first Siamese girl. She would take jewelery, hair clips, pens, coins, cigarette lighters ... anything at all really ... and hide it. We found her little "stashes" all over the house for several years after she died.

I had another who liked to go digging in my pocketbook for stuff. She also would stash favorite toys in there too. I can't tell you how many times I would reach into my bag for something only to pull out a cat toy. She would go into any bag or pocketbook brought in by visitors as well. I'll never forget the time about 10 years ago that she took my friend's key ring right out of her bag. We searched everywhere and couldn't find it. My friend did have spares so it wasn't such a big deal to lose the ring, but still, it frustrating for us not to find them. About two years ago, I decided to move some furniture around upstairs in my loft/office and there, behind a very heavy desk we found the keys.

This story probably isn't related but your post made me think of it none the less. I once had a little boy named Buttons who LOVED sparkle balls - those little craft balls of shredded mylar? He loved the green one in particular. It went missing and so I had to go to the craft store and buy a whole new bag just to get a new green one. My husband works in a manufacturing facility and is required to wear steel-toed boots. He came home from work the night we noticed the green sparkle ball was missing and complained that his foot was killing him and he couldn't wait to get his boot off. When he got the boot off his foot, his sock was this terrible bright green color and guess what dropped out of the boot? Yup, the missing green sparkle ball. LOL

I laugh several times a day at the antics of my cats. I work from home so I have the unique opportunity to observe and study their behavior. The two I have now are no exception when it comes to quirky behavior. My little girl loves those sticky Christmas bows - the ones you peel the paper off the back and stick them on packages? She likes to drop them over the ledge from the loft onto my husband's head as he is working at his computer below. LOL And my little boy LOVES his feather wand ('feffers' as we call it here) BUT he wants absolutely NOTHING to do with the feather end. He wants the stick end only. LOL Can't tell you how many times I have woken up wth it in my bed.

Thanks for the memories and for the laugh.

~gf~

What is it with Barbie? My Coco has brought me:

A little girl's barbie denim mini-skirt
2 Barbie prom dresses
1 Barbie head
a tennis ball toy thing
Many, many plastic bags
A shred of "Police - Do not Cross" tape (!!)
Sparkly hair scrunchie
various mens, womens and children's socks
A childs cap
Little boys boxer shorts
Small pieces of wood
And the list goes on...

The thing is, there's no little girls or boys living for at least two houses either side of me so I have no idea where she's getting these things. I can just imagine the conversation:

Mom: Sarah, where's your Barbie skirt, I want you to wear it today.
Sarah: I don't know mom, I left it to dry on the chair outside.
Mom: Sarah, go and find it please.

Sarah searches for half an hour.

Sarah: Mom, it's not here!
Mom: Sarah! I hope you haven't lost it! That Barbie skirt cost a lot of money! It can't have just grown legs and walked off!
Coco: Wanna bet?

I wanted to put a box out with all the things coco has stolen, with a note for everyone to take what belongs to them but I'm afraid I'll be accused of stealing.

Fred used to bring me kittens, and once a puppy. We lived in a neighborhood that most people just let their cats and dogs roam and breed, so there were almost always kittens around. Fred loves kittens and would often come in with one in his mouth. We would put it in a padded box on the front porch, and momcat would come get it. We never had one abandoned. Fred would stay in the box with them, until they were picked up. We found one that had been dropped off in the box once, left it there, and mom came back for it. Almost like she dropped it off for Fred to babysit. He never brough one home that was not at least walking, so I guess he just wanted to play wiht them. He never hurt one, and they never seemed afraid. Usually they would just snuggle down and sleep.

That's incredible!

Originally Posted by krazy kat2

Fred used to bring me kittens, and once a puppy. We lived in a neighborhood that most people just let their cats and dogs roam and breed, so there were almost always kittens around. Fred loves kittens and would often come in with one in his mouth. We would put it in a padded box on the front porch, and momcat would come get it. We never had one abandoned. Fred would stay in the box with them, until they were picked up. We found one that had been dropped off in the box once, left it there, and mom came back for it. Almost like she dropped it off for Fred to babysit. He never brough one home that was not at least walking, so I guess he just wanted to play wiht them. He never hurt one, and they never seemed afraid. Usually they would just snuggle down and sleep.

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Hey! Does Fred like two year old humans? My son is walking, likes to play, and I could use a good babysitter.

What a loving cat! Sounds like he'd make a great Dad.