Cat thefts on rise

[dogtail]

Looks like its full harvest season for the cat burglars. Palladium prices spiked recently. Be careful where you park. My Shepherd mix has got my driveway covered.
Thieves are breaking into cars to steal a metal more valuable than gold

 

[tvpierce]

Looks like its full harvest season for the cat burglars. Palladium prices spiked recently. Be careful where you park. My Shepherd mix has got my driveway covered.
Thieves are breaking into cars to steal a metal more valuable than gold

It's ironic that your dog is protecting your cat.

 

[Inv4drZm]

It's ironic that your dog is protecting your cat.

And that his username is dogtail

 

[dogtail]

This easy grab bait has been sitting on the ground under my parts rig for 3 months, no takers.

 

[ToyotaBrah]

Had my original cat stolen 4 years ago. Still salty about it.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[weekendclimber]

Had mine stolen about 8-9 years back. Fortunately, I keep full coverage on my truck, so that and the subsequent two break-ins that I've had since have all been covered. Since I drive like a grandpa, it really hasn't affected my premiums all that much

 

[HiLife]

It makes sense now. I saw a no name tow truck driving down the hwy the other day with a car on its hook.
The truck also had 2 cats with fresh sawzall cuts in the trucks bed.

 

[RS Dude]

Mine was stolen about 5 yrs ago, but it was about 95% depleted so I didn't care too much.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Best anti-theft advice: park in a garage. Move the junk to the driveway and park your expensive cars in the garage.

 

[RunningForNow]

Best anti-theft advice: park in a garage. Move the junk to the driveway and park your expensive cars in the garage.

This. If you don't have a garage, I totally understand. Get a alarm system, get a Cat Lock or other theft deterrent device. But if you have a garage, park your car in it. I never understood why people use their garage to store all the crap they don't need. If you can't reduce the amount of junk you have to park your cars inside, get a storage space. Consider the monthly fee you pay an insurance policy for your vehicles.

 

[2old2soon]

When I first joined this forum in late 2015, and started reading thru pages and pages of threads, I found out pretty quick that having the Cat stolen was an issue. Since my 4Runner is my only vehicle, and would be a massive, MASSIVE hassle if I was having to deal with replacing the Cat, I decided I'd rather take action BEFORE, rather than after, a theft.

My solution was buying a "Cat Clamp".

Yes, it's overkill. I spray painted the Cat orange, and added my license plate number. I then installed the Cat Clamp and cables. I don't worry about the Cat being stolen. It was funny, tho, when I had the 4Runner smogged, the tech asked if he could take a photo. He was laughing, but I'm sure my T4R is famous within the smogging community.

 

[RunningForNow]

When I first joined this forum in late 2015, and started reading thru pages and pages of threads, I found out pretty quick that having the Cat stolen was an issue. Since my 4Runner is my only vehicle, and would be a massive, MASSIVE hassle if I was having to deal with replacing the Cat, I decided I'd rather take action BEFORE, rather than after, a theft.

My solution was buying a "Cat Clamp".

Yes, it's overkill. I spray painted the Cat orange, and added my license plate number. I then installed the Cat Clamp and cables. I don't worry about the Cat being stolen. It was funny, tho, when I had the 4Runner smogged, the tech asked if he could take a photo. He was laughing, but I'm sure my T4R is famous within the smogging community.

This is very smart. I live in Fresno, and the Central Valley is known to have meth heads stealing anything that isn't locked down. The metal inside the cat is how their fund their meth habits. I really do think recyclers need to stop taking in scrap metal unless you're a licensed business. Fresno County started to crack down on metal recycling, and started shutting down recycling centers that operated out of the back lots of shopping centers and office areas. I live in a decent neighborhood, and before the night of every trash day pickup, we've had people coming to the neighborhood diving into every recycling bin. Thankfully that has stopped.

 

[muellernautique]

saw the title and thought you meant actual cat thefts because my cat was stolen two days before christmas and i was thinking maybe it was a bigger issue. at least they didn't take the cat off my car...:rofl:

 

[cleanrunner]

my factory one was stolen in 2012 in broad daylight,ive been running the tacoma mini header bolt on cat(magnaflow) setup since with zero issues.

 

[TonyB66]

Maybe that creates a need for something like a cat skid plate.

 

[ToyotaBrah]

Maybe that creates a need for something like a cat skid plate.

This is what I plan on doing in the next year or so. I've got an inexpensive cat (relatively speaking to the $1000 OEM cat) on mine now, but I want to avert that whole situation from occurring again. I might just go with one of the bolt-on full skids.
Will be a true mall crawler rig at that point.

 

[pluton]

I'd much rather spend $350 on a theft-preventing skid plate (which has some additional benefit) than the single-function Catclamp, but the $350 for a Catclamp would be worth it if I knew I'd be defeating on or more of the sleazoids that steal cats.

 

[FunBobby]

saw the title and thought you meant actual cat thefts because my cat was stolen two days before christmas and i was thinking maybe it was a bigger issue. at least they didn't take the cat off my car...:rofl:

I'd be more upset if my kitty cat was stolen than my catalytic converter...

 

[Endlessblockades]

This is what I plan on doing in the next year or so. I've got an inexpensive cat (relatively speaking to the $1000 OEM cat) on mine now, but I want to avert that whole situation from occurring again. I might just go with one of the bolt-on full skids.
Will be a true mall crawler rig at that point.

Is there even a commercial skid that covers the cat-zone? I haven't seen one while looking at the regular stuff but I haven't looked hard. I always thought about welding a couple lengths of rebar from the cat body to the frame to slow them down, but thoughts are free.....

 

[jgue467]

...always thought about welding a couple lengths of rebar from the cat body to the frame to slow them down, but thoughts are free.....

Now is the time to do it. I did just that to all my toyotas and a kia. I don't have a welder so took it to a muffler shop. $150 for 5 vehicles. He welded on several rods at various locations and spot welded the oem parts into place - will require lots of noisy cutting. My vehicles are always home now due to covid and probably always will be from now on.

Daughters prius' cat got stolen last month, pissed me off into action!

Muffler guy (austin) said he used to see a cat stolen customer every 3-4 months, last year and now it is Daily.

Nothing will stop someone if they really want something but yes this should give them just enough pause to move onto an easier target.

Luck all.