Meet Gonzo, a sweet and social tabby cat with a heart of gold—and a love for trash. Adopted as a kitten by documentary filmmaker Derek Boonstra and his wife Maria in 2016, Gonzo has always been unusually friendly, human-oriented, and full of personality. But when he started bringing home bizarre little “gifts” from his outdoor adventures, the couple decided to find out what was really going on.
So Derek did what any filmmaker with a curious cat would do—he built a tiny spy camera and attached it to Gonzo’s collar. What they discovered was a surprising, hilarious, and sometimes heartbreaking look into Gonzo’s secret life.
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This is Gonzo—a sweet, curious cat with a surprising hobby: bringing home trash
He shares his life with his humans, Derek and Maria, his cat sister Fish, and his dog brother Chico
When Gonzo showed signs of being street-smart and car-aware, Derek and Maria began letting him explore their apartment complex—first supervised, then on his own
Still, Derek wanted to know more: how far did Gonzo wander? Was he safe? And was he really that into trash? So, he strapped a tiny camera to Gonzo’s collar
What the footage revealed was part nature doc, part rom-com, part trash collector’s vlog
Gonzo, it turned out, loved bringing “gifts” home—plastic lids, wrappers, anything he could carry
One day alone, he brought back 10 items. A record
But the gifts weren’t random. There was a reason behind them too
Gonzo was in love—with Simone, a no-nonsense, street-savvy cat from the complex
He once offered her a plastic bag he found under a house. But Simone had already left. Gonzo meowed after her
Sadly, Simone wasn’t swayed by his trashy gestures. She was older. Wiser. Unimpressed
Yet Gonzo wasn’t just a hopeless romantic—he was also surprisingly gentle with wildlife
The collar cam showed him calmly approaching baby opossums. Derek and Maria braced for disaster—but Gonzo simply sat and hung out
His charming adventures became so captivating that in 2019, Derek started documenting them—and even shared how others could build their own cat cam
Over time, Gonzo has brought home hundreds of “gifts”—each one a tiny token of affection
Now living in a house with a backyard, Gonzo and Fish still explore daily—within a safe, enclosed perimeter
“We don’t necessarily recommend that everyone do this with their cats,” Derek says. “Gonzo has never minded wearing the camera, but he’s also an abnormally large and chill cat”
Gonzo may never win Simone’s heart, but he’s definitely won ours
