OK, you're all assuming he runs in terror. All my previous cats took
off for parts unknown as soon as I turned it on.

Well, a few weeks ago my old Hoover croaked. Being tired of replacing
vacuum cleaners every couple of years (I continually burn up the
motors, for some reason), I decided to get a good one for a change. I
got a new Royal, which so far I love.

I brought it home, opened the box and set the vacuum on the floor in
the living room. It's an upright, but I got the hose accessory kit. I
attached the hose and started cleaning stuff. At the time Cat-Boy was
sitting on the back of the recliner chair looking out the living room
window. (Bottom picture at http://home.comcast.net/~johnxj/.)

He didn't seem even remotely afraid of it. He just yawned and watched
me going around the room. When I got over to "his" chair he kept
looking at the tool on the end of the hose that was making this
whooshing noise. I decided to see if he would bolt, so I slowly moved
it toward him. As I got it close he cautiously reached out with one
paw to grab it and bring it closer so he could examine it. I let him
grab it. He sniffed all over it, the machine still running.

Finally a brilliant idea hit me. He is a long-hair with a lot of Maine
Coon in him, so there is hair everywhere in this house. I wondered if
he would let me vacuum him. I took the tool off the end of the hose
and slowly brought the open end toward him. He yawned as I did so.
Slowly and gently I began vacuuming him, starting with a paw first.
Eventually I vacuumed his back, sides and tail. At that point he
jumped down into the seat of the chair and rolled on his back. Clearly
he wanted his tummy vacuumed as well, so I obliged. He loved every
minute of it!

So y'all can spend hours brushing your cats. Cat-Boy and I have a much
faster and more efficient method!

--
Bogus e-mail address, but I read this newsgroup regularly, so reply here.