A mischievous moggy has been dubbed the real-life cat burglar as it cannot stop stealing from neighbours – including piles of cuddly toys and household goods.
Feline Milly has developed an addiction for pinching anything she can get its paws on – and has baffled her owners with the wacky items she has acquired.
The cheeky cat has been hoarding all the ‘stolen’ items at home – including scores of clothes, cuddly toys and assorted household goods.
And things have now got so bad an appeal has now gone out in a bid to return each piece to its rightful owner.
Owner Angie Hannaford says ten-year-old Milly has been collecting the bizarre goods for years but has recently been stepping up her ‘criminal’ activity.
As well as socks, sponges and draught excluders, she has also keen to show off her strength – by even bringing back heavy door stops.
Mother-of-eight Angie, 53, “She has been doing it for quite a while – it isn’t something that started overnight.
“Last year it was car sponges, then it was cuddly toys. Most recently it was a door stop she dragged up the road.
“I don’t know where she got it from, I haven’t returned it to the owner because I don’t know where it came from.
“I put adverts on Facebook but no one has come forward.”
Milly, 10, started hoarding around three years ago.
She started small, with odd socks but has slowly worked her way up the ranks to heavier goods.
Angie, a support worker from Exeter, Devon, says she always knows when she is about to bring her home presents.
And it is getting to the point where she is running out of space to put the junk.
“She is the only one out of our six cats who does it. We know when she is coming back with something because she makes a strange meowing sound.
“Recently she dropped a little pink piggy at the front door and a small fluffy duck at the back door.
“She likes dusters and she loves ducks. I have three of them which she has collected along with two fluffy parrots, three elephants, somebody’s cap, one slipper and a pair of socks.
“I had a black bag full of stuff that I had to throw away.”
Angie has six cats in all – Garfield, Patch, Harry , Roxy and Willow being the others – along with two dogs.
But Milly is the only one who brings home the weird and wonderful.
One theory behind her behaviour is that cats believe they are the superior species and it is territorial.
Another suggests that these gifts are given in appreciation for what the human does for the cat.
And then there is the idea that cats just enjoy collecting things showing off their “prey” as if to remind humans that we aren’t really a necessity in the feline world.
Whatever the explanation, Milly doesn’t look like she will stop soon.
Angie added: “I said for goodness sake – don’t bring home someone’s baby.”
