Items started showing up inside and it wasn't until they spotted the new addition to their family – their stray lockdown kitten Billy - dragging a fishing net across the lawn they realised who the culprit was.
A suitcase with some of Billy's loot. Photo / Jodi Bryant
Billy is only little but his loot comprises a double XL men's sweatshirt, a teddy, a wind-up chicken, a whole heap of (clean) socks, including one pair, a towel, a pair of girl's togs and the fishing net and shoes.
"To be honest, we didn't know what was happening at first," said Bradley. "So we were just throwing them out."
However, once she realised the little grey tabby was the perpetrator, she began collecting the stash and recently named and shamed Billy the Thief with a picture of him with the heist on the One Tree Point Grapevine Facebook page.
"This is Billy," read the post. "We live on Kowi lakes. He has been stealing items of clothing and teddies. If you recognise anything, I do apologise and you are more than welcome to come along."
The post gathered responses such as: "If there's a lost $100 note, it's probably mine...", "You need to give him a bigger clothing budget." and, "Wow, half of that stuff is ours (we are two houses down from your place). My husband complained the other day where all his socks are gone lol".
Other people commented that their cats had embarrassing penchants for thieving undies and knickers. So far Billy hadn't taken to underwear, apart from the one pair of boxers.
Bradley said the pilfering began around two months ago after she had him castrated. However, she said that was the same time she put a bell on his collar so he was possibly hunting socks instead of mice. He was bringing items into the house via the open window at night.
Apart from a neighbour spotting him eating her cat's food the other day, he had not been caught in the act by any of his victims.
Breeanna, 15, with Billy the Thief. Photo / Tania Whyte
The family had been receiving one item every day for the last two months. That morning's plunder was an oily rag.
Billy had joined their family as a 5-week-old the day before lockdown when daughter Breeanna, 15, was at a friend's house and a whole lot of kittens began showing up without a mother.
"I called Mum and asked if I could bring a kitten home and she was a bit tipsy so she said 'yes'.
"The next day she came to pick me up and couldn't remember the conversation and said, 'What's in the box?'"
However, the introduction with their bullmastiff dog Rosie didn't go well when he lunged at Billy.
"When I told the kids we couldn't keep him, the kids were in tears," said Bradley. "So, we introduced them slowly and now they're inseparable."
Billy and Rosie have become best friends.
Veterinary behaviourist Dr Elsa Flint said desexing or putting a bell on a cat would not likely have caused the behaviour.
"A bell certainly reduces hunting but it doesn't stop it. It's likely due to predatory behaviour so they're treating the things they're picking up and bringing home as they would hunting.
"It's certainly not unheard of, I hear about these stories and find them quite funny."
Flint referred to a case where the cat owner set up a table at the local shops with all the stolen items for the owners to retrieve.
"If (owners) want to change the behaviour, they could keep their cats occupied around the time they might usually go out and hunt and come home with these prizes where other cats might bring home rats and mice – early morning, just on dawn, or late evening as it starts to get cooler when the sun goes down.
"It's about keeping them occupied with interactive games when they might be triggered to do this. Maybe having a toy box and rotating them so they've got renewed interest. There are also interactive battery-operated toys, such as a Flutter Bug, which is a butterfly on a wire and is very realistic in its fluttering and quite attractive to cats – they can grab it and release it."
