You’re sure you put that hair tie down somewhere, but now you can’t seem to find it. You turn your back on your dinner plate for a minute and there’s suddenly less food on it. You always seem to have one sock missing from a pair, where do they all go? If this sounds familiar, you may have a cunning cat burglar in the house.
Why do cats steal things?
- Predatory nature. If your cat is stealing the steak from your dinner plate or a chicken wing from the kitchen counter, it’s not necessarily he’s hungry. A cat is a natural predator, and having his food served up in a bowl for him a few times a day doesn’t satisfy his natural hunting instinct. If your cat doesn’t eat the food straight away, and instead carries it around in his mouth while growling, it’s a good sign that he’s a predatory thief.
- Hunger. Your cat may be stealing food simply because he’s hungry, and that’s not necessarily a reflection of whether or not you are feeding him enough. Maybe he’s on a special veterinary prescribed diet, and he just wants more.
- Attention seeking behaviour. Has your cat learnt that when he steals something you give him attention? Even if you’re telling him off, that is still a form of attention, so you are incentivising him to repeat the behaviour and steal again.
- Boredom. Perhaps it’s a game and your cat is just bored with the same routine day in and day out. If your cat doesn’t have enough stimulation during the day he could easily have found his own way to entertain himself.
How can I stop my cat stealing?
Don’t panic if you have your very own cat burglar, there are ways that you can curb this behaviour, you just need to find out why he’s doing it.
If your cat is a frequent food thief, you should make sure that he doesn’t get the chance to take any human foods, and you certainly shouldn’t encourage him by feeding scraps from your plate. Apart from the fact that you should be stopping him from stealing food, don’t forget that there are a number of human foods that are bad for cats. (Refer to our article: ‘Human foods your cat shouldn’t eat’ for more information). Predatory food stealing can be stopped by making feeding times more interesting, for example by using a puzzle feeder that means he has to use his wits to get to the food inside. Feeding little and often, the way a cat would eat in the wild, will help if you think he’s stealing food through hunger.
If your cat is an attention seeking thief, then whatever you do, don’t encourage him by talking to him and fussing over him when you take back the stolen item. Giving your cat lots of toys, attention and stimulus throughout the day should keep his mind off those tempting items, and this will also help if he’s stealing through boredom.
Of course, if you consider that the house belongs to the cats and we just pay the bills, then it’s not really stealing, it’s just borrowing for a period of time.
Do your have a cat burglar at your house? What are your cats’ favourite things to steal?
Images: Martin / Joel Gillman via Flickr
Mary says
May 10, 2016 at 9:49 amMy cat is a jewel thief, my daughters diamond ring, my earrings, whatever is left on the dresser
Darwin's servant says
July 16, 2015 at 2:58 amDarwin only steals from the neighbors. He usually sticks with paper goods. Lots of junk mail. Two and 1/2 sets of flip-flops to date (it’s usually a week or two before the match shows up). Possibly the best steal last night, though. An unused sample box of Viagra. A few months ago, it was an empty box of jock itch cream. I’m learning a lot about my neighbors.
Basil says
April 29, 2014 at 1:00 amKlepto-Kats well there’s a thing,- who knew??? And living in a multi-cat household purrhaps I should start marking my stuff and watching the others a little more closely! MOL
meowmeowmans says
April 28, 2014 at 11:40 amThankfully, we don’t have any klepto-kitties here in our house. But we know some friends whose cats are master thieves!
Maxwell, Faraday & Allie says
April 28, 2014 at 9:10 amAllie: HAH. Faraday will do ANYthing to get attention. Best not let him read this….
Sharon S. says
April 28, 2014 at 8:15 amOne of my cats loves to steal (borrow) rubber bands that are left on my desk. I found a stash of them under my bed.
Sparkle says
April 28, 2014 at 6:26 amBinga is an awful food thief! She will steal my food if given a split second chance. But she is just annoyed that I get fed whenever I want (because I am underweight) and does not understand why she does not get the same (because she hoovers her meals immediately and does not graze like me).