| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Cat plunders neighborhood during frequent nighttime raids
Wednesday July 23, 2003SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) A cat burglar's booty is being hoarded in a Ventura County home.
A marauding feline named Midnight now dubbed Klepto Cat has been sneaking off in the dark to raid neighbor homes, garages, sheds and patios, bringing home shoes, hats, shirts, socks, panties and even a wrapped Christmas present.
It's stressful for pet owners Richard and Sue Boyd.
``We get so embarrassed by this,'' Sue Boyd said. ``We wake up in the morning and go out and there's stuff under the truck. The cat leaves things all over. We don't want these things.''
``He's a klepto cat,'' her husband said.
Each day, Midnight's owners leave a bag with the purloined goods hanging from their mailbox so neighbors can reclaim missing items.
It is unclear why Midnight prefers wearables.
Gary Sampson, an Indianapolis-based veterinarian who specializes in cat behavior, said the 13-year-old cat is probably drawn to body odors.
``He's obviously a hunter,'' Sampson said. ``He's doing this at night. This is when they can get prey. It's just an extension of that.''
Midnight wasn't always a property plunderer, Boyd said. Like other felines, he came home with birds and rodents. But that changed several years ago when the family brought a Doberman pinscher into the family.
``It's possible that this made the cat not want to be home as much. That's why matching pets is such an important issue,'' said Deena Case-Pall, a Camarillo-based psychologist who specializes in animal behavior.
Neighbor Jerome Richard has another theory: It may be the legacy of a neighborhood cat named Squiggy that occasionally lifted personal items from homes.
``I wondered when Squiggy died a few years ago if maybe he left his spirit and Midnight got a hold of it,'' said Ricard, who keeps his garage locked tight to deter the marauder.
Police Sgt. Paul Fitzpatrick said there isn't anything the police could do about Midnight's crimes, except refer the complaint to animal control. The Boyds tried locking Midnight up at night, but it didn't work.
Case-Pall suggested one of the obsessive-compulsive medications allowed for cats.
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