Cats are a curious mix of jumpiness and unflappable calm. Noises that would terrify a dog, thunder for instance, won’t even get a shrug of the shoulders from a cat. But the same cat who ignores booming noises from the sky will run for the hills the moment they hear that most dread-inspiring of sounds: the vacuum cleaner being hauled out of the closet.
We might laugh at the feline fear of vacuum cleaners. But that’s easy for us. We know it’s perfectly harmless and we aren’t out to get our feline friend, anyway. But consider the matter from a cat’s perspective. The vacuum cleaner is a monster that tears through the house, making scary noises. Worse, this monster makes its way from room to room, inevitably ending up near the cat’s emergency hiding place. As far as a cat can tell, it’s being hunted by the monster. No predator likes to become prey!
No two cats have exactly the same personality, so it shouldn’t be entirely surprising that there are cats who aren’t afraid of the vacuum cleaner. Perhaps they’re just smart and have figured out that while the “monster” may be really obnoxious, it’s no threat. One of those cats is Rijka and you’ll see her in action in the video posted below.
Rijka is some combination of intelligent, curious, and fearless. She’s got the vacuum cleaner hose in her paws and is fascinated. She can’t see the air rushing in, but there’s obviously something there, so she tries licking it. There’s no real taste, but it obviously feels interesting on her tongue. When she gets the hose all the way to her mouth, Rijka doesn’t like that at all. So it’s back to licking the air. Her sense of wonder is really priceless! When the hose gets on her mouth again, she doesn’t hesitate to punish it by batting it around. That’ll show it!
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