This is China. She steals things from people and brings them to her owner
“It started when she was like 2-3 years old with my housemate’s clean socks. We were sitting on the couch one day and heard her. She was making some weird meows so we slowly peeked around the corner and saw her dropping the sock by my door. It was the funniest thing we had seen! One day, my housemate sent me a text with a picture of all his socks by my door explaining that he was leaving for work and couldn’t find his socks, so he checked my door. It was hilarious! We had to hide the dog poop bags because she would steal the roll and leave a trail of unraveled bags all over the apartment leading to my door.”
China brings home anything people leave outside, like gloves
“She has such a strong personality and when she wants something, she’ll do just about anything to get it. Most of my things are basically held down with earthquake putty and every night, I do a China Safety Check just to make sure everything is safe from her nightly prowl.
When I moved to my current spot is when the real ‘cat burglary’ started. I was leaving to work one day and found a pack of cigarettes at my entrance. I assumed it was a housemate’s so I put it to the side and thought they’d come back for it. I came back from work and found matches. I was so confused. A few days later more items started appearing and that’s when I pieced it together. She had been burglarizing my neighbor’s yard and wouldn’t stop. I would put everything back in their yard as soon as she dropped it and she would bring them back immediately like ‘Hey! I thought I gave you this!’ so I had to wait until the end of the day to return all the items.”
Darts
And even scissors!
“The pandemic lockdown started and I, like many others, became unemployed and am at home all the time. Therefore, I am available to let her out as much as she wants. She is basically coming and going as she pleases, stealing all day. She’s gone up to 3-4 things a day, depending on what people leave outside.
When it started, she would keep coming to my door calling for me with something in her mouth and I thought it was adorable. Figured out she has a routine. Every morning, she begs to go out. I’ll let her out and she’ll quickly run to her favorite patch of dirt to roll around in it then off to burglarize the streets. She’ll come back with something, drop it at my door, sit and yell for me. If I open the door, she’ll come in and nibble like cheetahs do after running top speeds after a hunt. I always think of that when she’s snacking.”
Nothing is safe when she’s around
“So, I decided to set up the camera. I felt like no one really believed me. It was just too funny. My friends really enjoyed it and it made their day. They would ask me about her and if I had any more videos of her stealing things and my nightly backyard wildlife activities. She’s such a character that I just thought a lot of people would enjoy seeing this, so I started Songs Of My Felines.”
Here are all the “trophies” China brings from her adventures
China’s owner was scared that the neighbors would be mad
“I was afraid of how the neighbors would react because not everyone is friendly and I didn’t want to have to lock her up in my tiny place. So I tried to feel it out as much as possible, but it was too much. I couldn’t keep covering for her, so I came clean. I left the neighbors a bag with their items and a note explaining what was going on with my phone number and IG/Tiktok contact in case they wanted to see it for themselves. I was so afraid of their response. Luckily, my neighbor contacted me and said that they have an indoor cat and absolutely loved the videos and had no problems with her burglarizing them. They were just glad to know it wasn’t raccoons! I have set up a ‘return box’ that China can’t reach and they can find their missing backyard items.”
However, they understood and even had a good laugh at the videos Monica managed to capture
“So that’s basically it. She has an amazing bond with Waffles, my other cat who suffers from anxiety. She is so sweet and motherly with him and has helped him throughout all my life changes. China is Waffles’ emotional support cat. She loves to roll around in the dirt, hunt, steal, knock things off tables, and annoy me as much as possible and I love her to death. She makes me laugh every day.”
All the items China brings home are returned to their rightful owners
She’s a true kleptomaniac
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