No one really saw the intruder the first night Johanna King on Long Island, New York, suspected there was one. Around midnight on March 30, her husband heard noises in the kitchen and went to investigate. However, by the time he arrived, the burglar had already left by the dog door. Even though that appeared weird, the King’s spouse speculated that it may have been a fox and went back to bed.
King first didn’t believe her husband’s account, but she later realized that she had been using a lot more cat food lately than normal, which was strange given her solitary cat didn’t consume much to begin with.
Wondering if there may actually be some merit to her husband’s intruder story, King decided to set up a camera in the kitchen so they could keep track of what was going on downstairs while they slept, just in case.
And that’s how the couple discovered there was a cat breaking into their home every night.
King was absolutely baffled by this discovery. She thought her dogs and cat would have a stronger, more vocal reaction to a strange animal roaming around their home, but besides one initial scuffle, they eventually just seemed to accept that the intruder cat lived there now, too.
The cat also looked almost identical to the Kings’ own cat, so really, he blended right in.
King told The Dodo that his dogs were worthless throughout the procedure. “I don’t know if it’s because this cat resembles my own cat so much or because this cat came in acting as like he owned the area.
He seemed self-assured and familiar with the layout of the property, as was obvious from the first moment I captured him on video. He was moving about as though he were the property owner!
King starting noticing the intruder cat on the camera every single night, and was frankly impressed by how ballsy he was. He didn’t seem to care about the fact that this wasn’t his home — he made himself quite comfortable every time he stopped by, thoroughly enjoying each and every one of his stays.
“When I first saw him on camera, he slept on my dining room table for about 20 minutes,” King said. “My cat walked right under him and didn’t even notice! He would enter the dog door, stroll around a little bit and walk over to my laundry room where the cat food is.
Then end with a nap on the table! I’ve also caught him playing in my sink, knocking over dishes and walking all over my couch!”
As time went on, the intruder cat only got more brazen, and even started stopping by the house while the couple was still awake.
“A few times, I’d be sitting on the couch with the lights out (and my dogs at my feet) and I’d see two huge glowing eyes staring at me from the kitchen,” King said. “Then he would turn around and stroll back outside. I also watched the camera while I was at work or out of the house. It was so hard to tell if I was watching the Cat Burglar (as my husband called him) or my cat!”
The moment had come for King and her husband to begin trying to capture the trespassing cat in the act. The cat just went past the trap after it was set up inside the house, as shown on surveillance footage. They then attempted to set up the trap outside, but it appeared that the cat was too cunning for all of their ruses. The couple gradually came to terms with the idea that they would never be able to capture the cat and that he now also resided in their house.
He liked to take naps on my dining room table, so I even covered it with a towel, King recalled. “I reasoned that he may as well have fun if he was going to break in.”
The couple kept the trap set up outside, though, just in case — and somehow, one night, they finally caught their little trespasser.
“I let my dogs outside … My dog was OBSESSED with the cat trap,” King said. “It’s been there for almost a week, why suddenly? So, I walked over and noticed the trap door was shut. It was pitch-black out so I went inside and got a flashlight. I uncovered the trap and saw a cat!”
At first, King was convinced that the couple had caught their own cat in the trap, but after finding their cat sound asleep inside, they realized that the intruder cat had finally been brought to justice.
King already had a big dog crate set up inside her house on the off chance that they were able to catch the cat eventually, and she put him inside there so he couldn’t run away. He was bewildered and probably a little shocked that he had actually been caught, but after a while he began to warm up to his new friend, and even let her pet him.
While she had initially been thinking about adopting him herself, after taking him to the vet, they discovered that Hunter has FIV and therefore can’t live with King’s current cat. King is now working with the rescue she volunteers and fosters for, For Our Friends, to help him find the perfect home — so that hopefully, he won’t feel the need to break into them anymore.
“I think he broke into the right home,” King said. “Maybe someone else wouldn’t have been so willing to help him! I can’t change the world, but hopefully I helped make his world a little better!”
