I had forgotten that when you vacuum the rug, and you have a cat, it is as though you have unleashed a Balrog on an unsuspecting feline populace.
Poor Hope. It’s been 24 hours and she still has not recovered. I go to the closet door (where I keep the Balrog) to get something else, and Hope sees where I am going and FREAKS, racing around the apartment, scampering under my bed, where I can see her green eyes gleaming out maniacally.
Has anyone ever figured out scientifically just what it is about vacuums that freak cats out? I’ve been around cats all my life, and I’ve never yet encountered a cat who didn’t run in terror from the vacuum. Even the very sight of the machine sends them to the other room where they can cower under the bed. You’d think there’d be the odd cat once in a while who thinks, “Huh, a vacuum. Meh.” They’ll hang out in the kitchen with me when I’m running a mixer and a blender and whatever else at the same time, and I remember outdoor cats not running from the lawn mower when I fired that thing up, but the vacuum? That’s the tool of the Cat Devil! I’ve always wondered why.
“Huh, a vacuum. Meh.” hahahahahahaha
It’s so much bigger than her and it makes this huge sound … and perhaps to her it appears to be alive?? I couldn’t help it – I was vacuuming and she was cowering under the bed and I couldn’t help but laugh. I kept shouting over the roar of the Balrog, “IT’S OKAY, HOPE – IT’S NOT A MONSTER – IT’S JUST A VACUUM” but that was probably equally terrifying to her – my shouting voice over the roar!
My dad and stepmother had a Lhasa Apso dog who freaked out whenever the vacuum came on, too. Perhaps the small pets are, the more freaked they become at them. I don’t remember any other of my immediate families pets being spooked.
small furry animal sees the Balrog-vaccuum (as it shall henceforth be known) suck up all the stray poofs of loose hair and random stuff on the floor and little furry animal is quick to make the assumption, “I’m next.” …which seems a reasonable assumption when you consider that, after the dust bunnies and shedded hair get sucked up – the cat is the next largest fluffy thing lying loose on the ground.
Terrifying!!!
Maybe it’s the vibrations? A typical vacuum will not only set off a tremendous racket, it will vibrate the floor, and pets in general are sensitive to that.
Thou art tracked back, btw.
YES! And everything else in the closet is guilty by association. Don’t jostle anything–it might wake the evil vacuum.
My cat, now 11, has decided that the vacuum is not a problem unless it is within a certain amount of feet of her in the same room. Kinda like a buffer zone thing. But she will be giving it the evil eye the whole time it’s running; when it does come too close, she’s off for the other end of the apartment.
Peace time will come again, Hope!
My dog has no fear of the vacuum, none, but a broom will completely freak her out. It doesn’t even have to be moving. I can stop sweeping for a minute and lean the broom against the wall and she’ll bark at it like the devil himself is inside it. I have no idea why.
Captain hates the vacuum too, but it’s funnier to watch him with the Swiffer Vac. He studies it, not getting too close, and the whole time you can see him thinking, “You might makes noise like The Big Red Evil, but I think I could take you.”