'Cat burglar': Neighbourhood moggy with a magnetic collar responsible for spate of missing keys

The Telegraph [UK] ^ | 10 Dec 2012

[Slings and Arrows]

Then they discovered the culprit, a genuine “cat burglar” who had made off with more than 20 sets of house and car keys.

The neighbours discovered that Milo the neighbourhood moggy was stealing the keys – attached to his magnetic collar.

The nine-year-old cat had been fitted with the collar to operate her cat flap and stop other cats sneaking into her home to steal her food.

But the collar was also picking up the keys along with its adventures to other people’s homes.

It was not until Kirsten Alexander, 27, spotted her pet coming through the cat flap with a set of someone else's keys dangling from her magnetic collar that the mystery was solved.

In the past five weeks, Milo's collar picked up at more than 20 sets house and car keys as she wandered from home to home through neighbour's catflaps in Stoke Newington, north east London.

[Slings and Arrows]

Picture at source. Methinks Kitteh is in cahoots with a local locksmith.

[Slings and Arrows]

[Mercat]

Wow. In before the ping.

[Slings and Arrows]

[Slings and Arrows]

It was a trap! You’re surrounded!

[SkyDancer]

[mylife]

Ping

[Jyotishi]

Pic of the perp and the evidence... but the cat is totally innocent.

[ApplegateRanch]

This could all be prevented if people were not too lazy to open & close their doors for their pets at need, instead of cutting a hole in it for them to run loose.

It only takes one mad squirrel; or a possum, coon, or skunk; or an enterprising tyke/teen burglary team to make believers out of them. Or, tragically, one squished cat or dog.

Pets, unless invited & taken elsewhere, belong in the home & yard of their owner, for both their safety, and the safety of the owner’s finances.

[Slings and Arrows]

[Jyotishi]

Ha-ha-ha! Thanks.

[Slings and Arrows]

De nada, FRiend.

[Cicero]

Truth is stranger than fiction.

[Dr. Sivana]

This could all be prevented if people were not too lazy to open & close their doors for their pets at need

My cat likes to come and go at 2 AM (yard is fenced, which discourages long forays). Not wanting to get up at 2AM is NOT "lazy".

My rat terrier dog is very shy, and will not make a noise to be let out. She just looks "worried". Doesn't work too well if you are in another room.

That flap is a wonderful addition to our home, and no coon, squirrel etc. has figured it out in four years of rural living.

[Jack Hydrazine]

[Slings and Arrows]

Truth is stranger than fiction.

Naturally. Fiction has to be believable.

[SaraJohnson]

I don’t believe this story. I think this is an attention whore at work and it’s not the moggy.

[HiTech RedNeck]

You’d think this cat burglar would be picking up all manner of hardware, not just keys.

[Slings and Arrows]

[NYTexan]

LOL!

[NYTexan]

From the story:

She said she had also found dozens of metal items scattered around her house, including nails, pins, screws and bolts.

It helps to actually read the article...

[mylife]

☺

[SaraJohnson]

: )

[SaraJohnson]

It could at least bring home a car to mommie dearest.

[Twotone]

We have a cat door for our kitties. We’ve had a few uninvited visitors. One was a racoon who kept coming in for chow until she got too big & fat. I heard a ruckus down where the door is & looked out to see a racoon with a cat-door girdle. She’d gotten stuck & ended up pulling the whole thing out. She got the girdle off & went away & we didn’t see her again until the next year. She came back with three kits & sent THEM in to get chow. Smart mama!

[Fawn]

I loathe raccoons.

[Dr. Sivana]

One was a racoon who kept coming in for chow until she got too big & fat. I heard a ruckus down where the door is & looked out to see a racoon with a cat-door girdle.

Beatrix Potter was a prophetess! (cf. Timmy Tiptoes)

[MHGinTN]

From the UK article:

"She said she had also found dozens of metal items scattered around her house, including nails, pins, screws and bolts."

[Cicero]

It doesn’t make sense that a magnetic collar would suck the keys out of cars or doors.

What I think MAY explain it is that a number of neighbors have only one set of keys but two or more people who use them. Maybe one car shared by a husband and wife.

So when they bring the car home, they throw the keys on the floor behind the cat door or doggy door, where the other users can find it.

Kind of like hiding the front door key on top of a window, or inside a flower pot.

Not the best thing to do if burglars are around, but a lot of people do it anyway.

[Slings and Arrows]

As an alternative explanation: Homeowner leaves keys on counter, hall table, etc.,; kitty enters through catflap, sees keys, jumps up to look at the shiny object, keys captured by magnetic collar.

[Gefn]

I think kittehs are smarter than than people give them credit for. If they had their own IQ tests, I bet our fur balls would have IQ’s equal to Einstein.

(This post was written with the cat on my lap, btw)

[Slings and Arrows]

Allways a good idea to flatter our feline masters.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Well a big ole iron meow to you.