Megan Turale said the two offenders came into the house through the back door, which was left open early Tuesday morning for the cat to go outside.

When Ms Turale got up from her bed about 6am, she found the burglars inside.

”They ran out the back door and I chased them a little,” she said. 

“I only really saw one of them, a young man in a black hoodie. Luckily I disturbed them before they could grab anything of note, so far as I can tell.”

Ms Turale said it was the first time someone had invaded her home and she was “a little worried that they may come back again”.

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“I'm not so scared as sad really, and of course a bit violated knowing that they were in my space,” she said.

“I was quite shocked that someone would be so bold as to enter the house while people were home, especially at that hour … I'm often up early for nursing shifts.

“I'll definitely be locking the door behind the cat from now on.”

Launceston Inspector Darren Hopkins said police were investigating the incident at Invermay, but assured the public there had not been an increase in these types of crimes.

He said home burglaries had in fact dropped eight per cent over the past 12 months in the Launceston division.

“At this stage we are catching offenders for about a quarter of them and we would like to improve that so we would ask members of the public who see anything suspicious around their own or neighbours’ homes to contact Launceston Police and report the matter,” Inspector Hopkins said.

“We would also like to take the opportunity to remind home owners to take responsibility of securing their homes even at night when they are asleep to prevent easy access.

“Other measures can include alarm systems and more commonly these days good quality CCTV to record the offender’s activities and hopefully lead to the identity of the offender.” 

Launceston police can be contacted on 131 444.

Information can also be reported anonymously to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.