Furry thief eyes neighbours' clothes lines

Cat burglar: Buttons keeps busy nicking clothes from neighbours. Photo / Michael Craig

A fleet-footed family pet with criminal tendencies is proving a headache for her embarrassed owner.

Buttons, a 4-year-old tonkinese cat, has swapped hunting birds for clothes, flogging a basket of washing each week off clothes drying in Sandringham backyards.

"I call her the undie thief," said doting owner Lauren Indrisie, who visits neighbours each week to return stolen garments.

"I don't know how to stop her. One day she brought in 12 things."

Buttons has her own Instagram account. Photo / Michael Craig

Buttons was partial to all types of clothing, ranging from bras, underpants and socks to adult sized T-shirts and even a tankini.

Indrisie was often woken early in the morning by a purring Buttons dropping her night-time haul on or beside her bed.

"We have a cat door and sometimes she can't get her stuff through it so there's a pile on the other side of the cat door. The neighbours tell me there are undies and socks caught on the same spot on the fence up the back."

She said many residents in Buttons' street mistakenly blamed other people for the disappearances. Indrisie is quick to put her neighbours straight about her feline's activities.

Buttons also has her own Instagram account, @buttonsthethief, to help return stolen clothing to owners.