Pictures: Hagen Hopkins
In a quiet street on the Kāpiti Coast, a fluffy thief lurks. Milo, a lovable blue-eyed Tonkinese, is a kleptomaniac house cat with a passion for soft toys.
Known to sneak into the homes of unsuspecting neighbours to take his pick of plushies, the two-year-old’s habit has seen him take up to 30 toys in one week, and like a true criminal mastermind, Milo has never been caught.
His Paraparaumu Beach owners, Storm and Rory Sommerville, have found all kinds of robbed goods courtesy of Milo. He often drags them through an open window in the bathroom, where he leaves them on the floor.
His loot has included hug-worn teddies, a soft Kiwi, bobble-eyed animals, a surprisingly heavy musical toy and an old doll with a missing eye.
“Milo began bringing home the occasional toy when we lived in Miramar,” says Storm. She’s mum to Zen, 12, Fox, eight, and Rosy, 12 weeks. “It started after my mother-in-law visited with her dog, who chased Milo and gave him a fright. Then he became anxious. So he’d have an anxious steal.”
The week the family started packing up boxes around the house to move to Kāpiti, 40 minutes from Wellington, Milo’s thievery escalated.
“That’s when he came back with over 30 toys!” recalls South African born Storm, 41. She moved to New Zealand 13 years ago after meeting Kiwi Rory, 44, overseas.
It was the guilt of finding a child’s blankie that led the busy mum to reach out to her community on a local Facebook page at the end of last year.
Storm shared photos of Milo’s stolen toys, hoping to find their rightful owners.
“A neighbour saw my post and contacted me, and said, ‘It might be worse than you think,’” recalls Storm, a nutritionist with a practice in Miramar. “They’d found stashes of toys around their property and wondered how they got there!”
Another time, Storm opened the front door to a man who claimed Milo had stolen his new pair of woolly Kathmandu socks. Storm immediately returned them.
The first toy Milo nabbed upon his move to Kāpiti was a pretend gun, accompanied by a stuffed Paw Patrol police dog. When Storm saw the plastic replica gun on her bathroom floor, she was shocked.
“I texted all the neighbours, but no one said it was theirs, so where had it come from?” she laughs. “Can you imagine a cat running around with a gun in its mouth?!”
As Fox looks through Milo’s stolen-items basket when Woman’s Day visits, he’s impressed to find two Pokémon character toys. “He’s a real-life Slinky Malinki!” he enthuses.
While Storm has posted multiple times online, many playthings are still unclaimed. She did, however, receive a reply from a stranger who wrote a poem about Milo’s kleptomaniac ways. Another person sent a photo of him sleeping in their bed with their two cats.
“Milo comes home smelling of other people’s perfume,” Storm explains, comparing his mysterious outings to an extramarital affair. “I’m like, ‘You’re my cat!’”
But the lovable feline is more than a friendly criminal street prowler. He’s also his family’s “ridiculously sweet” and needy companion, who is always up for a cuddle.
“Milo comes into my room at night, jumps on my bed and starts purring,” says Zen, cradling the cat in his arms like a baby. “All he wants is to wear your love out until there’s none left!”
Storm admits she wasn’t huge on cats before adopting Milo, since she grew up with a biter who urinated inside. But the once self-proclaimed dog person grew fond of her close friends’ two Tonkinese cats and reached out to a dedicated breeder in Ohakune.
“Milo is a cross of Siamese and Burmese, which equals Tonkinese, and they’re particularly loving cats,” says the doting fur-mum. “He’s an absolute smooch and talks a lot.”
Milo also loves a good face stroke while his family sings to him. Thanks to a lead, he even goes on holiday with them up north so he doesn’t get anxious in a cattery.
Despite the attention Milo’s antics have gained, his family is still no closer to unearthing the mystery behind how he’s able to steal with such finesse.
They’ve looked into putting a little camera on him to see where he goes. However they decided it would be too bulky.
“I’d love to know where Milo’s going and if people are inviting him in, or if he’s going in himself to steal,” reflects Storm. “He’s proud of his toys. He might catch the odd mouse, but this is his preference. He’s very partial to a fluffy toy and just wants more!”
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