A cheeky cat has gone viral as he steals his owner’s beanie hats straight off his head whenever he walks past his hammock.

When Kelsey Jo Paulson installed shelves on the wall of her home in Minnesota, US, in February, little did she and partner Ben realise they had created a game for their pet Percy.

Hilarious footage which has been viewed more than 2.5 million times, shows the ginger and white tabby run up the walls as soon as he hears Ben, 34, approaching down the hall before snatching his hat.

Often Percy will cling on to the hat with one claw before allowing it to drop to the floor, meaning Ben has taken to doubling up on his beanies to compensate for losing at least one.

Kelsey Jo, 32, said: “Percy hadn’t stolen Ben’s hats before the hammock went up because he’d never had that convenient high ground placement.
He had begun climbing on doors, coat hooks, and curtains being somewhat destructive, so we put these shelves up around Valentine’s Day to give him a more favourable climbing outlet. It was a hit. Percy loves that hammock and he hasn’t ripped a curtain down in weeks".

Kelsy said that the cat tries to anticipate their movements. If he sees them loitering or headed near the hammock, or even down the hallway, he’ll sprint up the wall and into position for the perfect ambush.

“It is incredibly funny. He keeps doing it because it’s fun for us to interact with him this way and he loves it. I don’t think we could stop him even if we wanted to. It would break his heart".

A cheeky cat has gone viral as he steals his owner’s beanie hats straight off his head whenever he walks past his hammock.

When Kelsey Jo Paulson installed shelves on the wall of her Minnesota, USA, home in February, little did she and partner Ben realise they had created a game for their pet Percy.

Hilarious footage – which has been viewed more than 2.5million times - shows the ginger and white tabby run up the walls as soon as he hears Ben, 34, approaching down the hall before snatching his hat.

Often Percy will cling on to the hat with one claw before allowing it to drop to the floor, meaning Ben has taken to doubling up on his beanies to compensate for losing at least one.

Kelsey Jo, 32, said: “Percy hadn’t stolen Ben’s hats before the hammock went up because he’d never had that convenient high ground placement.

“He had begun climbing on doors, coat hooks and curtains being somewhat destructive, so we put these shelves up around Valentine’s Day to give him a more favourable climbing outlet.

“It was a hit. Percy loves that hammock and he hasn’t ripped a curtain down in weeks.

“He tries to anticipate our movements. If he sees us loitering or headed near the hammock, or even down the hallway he’ll sprint up the wall and into position for the perfect ambush.

“Generally he won’t do it if it’s not a time of day we’re not moving about. For example he won’t be there at night when we’re sleeping because there’s little to no opportunities to pounce.

“It is incredibly funny. He keeps doing it because it’s fun for us to interact with him this way and he absolutely loves it.

“I don’t think we could stop him even if we wanted to. It would break his heart.”