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!”
The trespassing cat only grew bolder with time, and eventually began dropping by the house when the couple was still awake.
Two enormous luminous eyes would occasionally stare at me from the kitchen while King was seated on the couch with the lights off and his dogs at his feet. “After that, he would circle and make his way back outside. I also kept an eye on the camera whether I was away from home or at work. It was quite difficult to determine if I was watching my cat or “the Cat Burglar,” as my husband dubbed him.
King and her husband finally decided it was time to start trying to catch the intruder cat in the act. They set up a trap inside the house — and then watched on the camera as the cat just walked straight around it. They then tried setting up the trap outside, but it seemed the cat was too smart to fall for any of their tricks.
The couple eventually resigned themselves to the fact that they were never going to catch the cat, and that he lived in their home now, too.
“I even put a towel on my dining room table where he liked to nap,” King said. “I figured if he was going to break in, he might as well enjoy himself.”
However, the couple kept the trap set up outdoors just in case. Somehow, one night, they managed to capture their small intruder.
“I let my dogs out to play… My dog was really fixated on the cat trap,” King remarked. “Why suddenly? It’s been there for about a week. I went over and saw that the trap door was closed. Since it was completely dark outside, I walked inside to get a flashlight. I found a cat when I opened the trap!
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.
King had been updating her Facebook page with stories about the trespassing cat throughout the entire affair, and everyone was adoring them. She hoped that someone would ultimately identify themselves as the cat’s family via all the posts and updates so she could return the cat to them and break him of his habit of invading other people’s homes.
King stated, “My first objectives were to locate this cat’s owner and inform them that their
But after interacting with him and seeing the condition he was in, King had a sneaking suspicion that the intruder cat was a stray or had been abandoned, and had been breaking into her home in order to find a little comfort and love. She decided to name him Hunter, and hoped that she could help him find the loving home he deserved.
She had considered adopting him herself at first, but after taking him to the doctor, they learned that Hunter had FIV and cannot coexist with King’s present cat. So that ideally he won’t feel the need to break into them again, King is now working with the rescue she volunteers and fosters for, For Our Friends, to help him find the ideal home.
King answered, “I believe he broke into the proper house. Perhaps another person wouldn’t have been so eager to assist him! Although I can’t change the world, perhaps I was able to improve his world a bit.
