Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for May 22, 2023

The vacuum cleaner! The recurring menace!

…I should probably vacuum.

You see? Lupin panics when the others do! But not yesterday.

Don’t they know by now that it will go away shortly? Elvis, such a scaredy pants. Who would have though it.

I say spare them the vacuum, spoil! the cat! I actually feel guilty running mine.

Oh, Elvis, you haven’t been betrayed. The others simply ran in a different direction.

I was going to make a joke about dying alone.. but then I remembered my own cat curling up in the side yard alone to peacefully pass and just got.. sad

You’re not alone, Elvis. You’ve got most of the entire house’s supply of cat toys, pencils, pens and milk rings.

In less accidental depression news, the fourth part of my BCN retrospective is up! https://popculturebuffet . tumblr. com /post/717865500161507328/breaking-cat-news-years-4-and-5-archived-footage (The spaces are to be safe). Ironically coming out during a batch of repeats largely from the two years covered (Two covered since the repeat era only gave me a few new arcs and some stylistic things to talk about). Still found a lot of neat moments and finally got to talk about that lady saying cats steal breath as I coudln’t fit it in the review for year one. Every arc so far in the repeats has come up so far, mostly simply by accident.

Oh, Elvis, you have survived this torture before.

Somehow I missed "panic in the sheets " last time. No telling where my brain was then…..it must have been early morning. Yeah, I’m sure that was it.

Our cat clawed openings in the dust covers under all of the couches and beds to the land of secret kitty caves for security and uninterrupted naps.

Elvis is stranded, abandoned, betrayed, and doomed.

Panic, but all still reporting like the professionals they are.

This has martyrdom written all over it!

Elvis is a drama queen.

I want these reporters to report on how many cats have actually perished in the course of reporting around vacuums. I mean, from the hyperbole, it sounds like a common occurrence, so it shouldn’t be difficult to come up with a list.

I see Elvis has already deployed his death blades.

Our Roy didn’t fear the vacuum cleaner, until Poodle taught him to be afraid.

Being a tad melodramatic Elvis?

I have a cat you can actually vacuum. Easiest-going cat I’ve ever seen.

Nature, and cats, abhors a vacuum…in the space, under the bed, no one can hear you yowl…

Elvis, what a drama kitty.

Meanwhile, Back on the Nile

At the Artisans’ Studio

Sophititi: It’s fun creating, but now we must clean up.

Maat-Tilda: No matter how much I try, I seem to get scraps all over the floor.

Adobe Style: I wonder if Baba-Stet will let us borrow her enchanted broom, Broom-Sweepa.

Soph: She is here visiting, so no harm in asking.

Sometime Later

Tillie: Broom-Sweepa, do you mind helping us with cleaning up the studio?

Broom-Sweepa: Not at all. It’ll be fun working with creative artists.

Sometime Even Later

Elvis-Anum: Did I just see a broom sweep by itself?

Lupinium: Yeah, remember Baba’s enchanted broom?

Elvis: We should warn the kittens!

Ora Zed: So, you’re a magic broom, Mrs. Sweepa?

Broom-Sweepa: That’s right. Would you like to meet my son Whisk?

Ora Z: Ooh! We could play all sorts of games!

Elvis: (What could possibly go wrong?)

Better scoot, Elvis. Vacuum cleaners love that front two inches of couch they can reach without actually moving it. I love when they keep the reporter-speak even when they’re right next to each other, it’s very amusing.

The vacuum cleaner, aka the cat-sucker-upper.

Poor Elvis has been betrayed! His mom chose the vacuum over her best boy pirate ballerina, and left him alone under the couch. Alone! Siamese yowl

The cats already made peace with the vacuum a while ago after a fight with it. Why are they hiding?

Another great story!

My current brood of cats, Gandolf, Samwise, Lil’ Baby Frodo, and Bilbo are not afraid of the vacuum cleaner. Either the old hand steered monster or the new programmable one. Samwise and Bilbo attack the cord and sometimes will bop the headlight.

Gandolf just ignores it and takes a better sleeping arrangement while the others are fighting their dragon. It’s a shame Elrond passed to the west, he and Gandolf used to look so aloof – but regal avoiding the din of the others.

Lil’ Baby Frodo does not engage the hand vacuum, but he does love to sit on the programmable one. He’s the only one that doesn’t get dropped off. I think his munchkin body helps with that. The others don’t even try much anymore, leaving it to him. The dogs howl, except the big dog.

One deep bark from him, and all the others quiet down, cats, kits, and little rescue dogs.

Albert loathed the vacuum. One of the only times he would hiss is when I brought it out of the closet of his room. I wouldn’t even turn it on; the mere sight of it would cause him to flee to the comfort of his Man. I wouldn’t vacuum his room unless he was on another floor of the house.

Bartholomew, on the other hand, shows no fear, just a wary interest. He retreats just a little and keeps a watchful eye on that noisy thing.

Elvis…..Boys…….You need to get the humans to update their roaring monsters. We have a two story home and have two Roomba vacuum cleaners, one for each floor. They run Monday, Wednesday and Friday, in fact they are running right now are are reasonably quiet. They keep the floors swept pretty well, I have to hit the hidden corners etc. a couple times a week when I dust and vacuum the rugs.

They are much quieter and so unobtrusive that neither the cats or the dogs pay them much attention. Usually the only time they pay attention to them is if they are sleeping in the way of one of them. They move when the get bumped. Neither of the cats has tried to ride one, but the younger cat did chase one for a few moments when it was pulling in a long piece of thread the wife dropped on the floor when she was doing some sewing.

Somehow I can picture a cat rodeo at the Big Pink House on the Hill if your humans got a robot vacuum.

Elvis, if you screw up your courage and move really, really, fast, you can join your companions under the bed!

COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC: The Marshmallow Mouse is just a tad pregnant. I predict kittens some time in June. She’s looking for a place to nest; I have a box I’m going to fix up for her with a nice blanket – well, a decent old blanket- that she can have her kittens in, or I can move them too after they’re born. Anybody living in or near Barrie, Ontario, want to adopt a kitten? From the look of her tummy and the feel of it, I predict around 4.

Elvis always CATastrophizes unexpected events. . . .

I hate the sound of vacuums too. A necessary evil.

8^)

And he will live to complain about him dying alone to them in person later.

Careful, Elvis. Alien astronut theorists suggests that vacuum cleaners could be fiendish devices of advanced intergalactic devilish extraterrestrials who uses the power of black holes to suck everything into them.

A vacuum cleaner in the hallway? That really sucks.

Proud mama here!

In the future, they will make peace with the vacuum, thanks to Puck’s kindness, but they will never enjoy the noise.

The replies of all the cat owners had me laughing so. I’m one, also, who doesn’t want to disturb them with the vacuum. Our Dusty, RIP, got used to being vacuumed and LOVED it! Sure would be nice if I could do that with these 2. lol

Never mind nature, Elvis abhors a vacuum!

The vacuum mating ritual has happened again

Has anybody else had trouble logging in this evening? I’ve been trying for the last hour and finally got through just now.

Always tell my boys “hidey hole babies, hidey hole!” and they hide.

Trouble & Mischief actually love the vacuum cleaner. YOU heard me. That’s right, LOVE! They get all excited when I turn the vacuum cleaner on and follow it everywhere, batting at it as if they wanted it to join them in a game. Such strange kittens! (๑′ᴗ‵๑)