He did not try to steal it, he tried to help it. I would rather have a million of these type drunk guys than one incredibly mean sober one. Mean sober ones tend to get meaner when drunk.
He’s just imagining he stole it because he is probably obsessing on the pain of the owner, and doubly so if he thinks he took a child’s cat.
If he would have been a mean guy, he would have scratches all over, and never would have gotten the little one home. Cat’s are very choosy about the people they pick for a home. And if they get a bad one, they go house hunting.
DK