Why do cats hate vacuum cleaners? Some cats love them!

The default situation is that domestic cats hate vacuum cleaners because they are noisy and a strange, dangerous creature roaming around the living room. 

The domestic cat does not understand vacuum cleaners. The worst thing about them is the noise. Most of them are noisy. 

But if you dig around the Internet even a little bit you will find that some domestic cats adore to be vacuum cleaned! They obviously get used to the noise while the experience of the vacuum cleaner against their fur and skin clearly beats any downside that they might experience with the noise. There'll be competing forces: noise is negative while the pleasant feeling is the positive.

The enemy of cats! Normally. Image in public domain.

In the video, where you see a ginger tabby thoroughly enjoying being vacuumed, the vacuum cleaner is pretty quiet which probably helps a lot in ensuring that the cat accepts it. If a cat accepts being vacuumed it must be a good way of removing some loose hair strands and the occasional flea!

There are many human devices and objects that the domestic cat doesn't understand which is something that cat owners should be aware of. I'm sure most of them are but, you know, the domestic cat is very close to their wild cat ancestor in terms of character and behaviour, which is also something most cat owners understand. 

But this means that they are living in a human environment which can be a little bit alien to them sometimes. It accounts for the fact that 99% of domestic cats are really frightened of the vacuum cleaner. 

They are frightened of any object which is noisy and with which they are not familiar. And it doesn't have to be noisy to be scary as is very evident in the many videos of cats jumping up in the air in sheer terror when they turn around and see a cucumber on the floor. 

Or any other unfamiliar object close to them. Of course, the reaction depends upon the particular cat's character but the default reaction is caution arising out of fear and therefore they run and hide.

To be honest, I do not like videos of cats being frightened of cucumbers. It's certainly amusing to many people which is why they are highly successful videos but let's think of the cat for a moment; the video maker has frightened their cat in order to make a successful video for YouTube. I'm being boring. I'm being too serious. But as I'm concerned with domestic cat welfare more than anything else in these articles, I have to bring up this point.

I have mentioned it before but around 30% of all cats in funny cat videos have been found to be stressed because the funny cat video is based upon a domestic cat doing something strange or be terrified of running away or hiding or failing in a jump of some sort (the big 'fail') and falling to the ground. Failure is funny to a lot of people especially when it is a cat doing something they should good at such as jumping.

It's disrespectful to laugh at a cat failing.

Why does my cat groom so much?

Why does my cat groom so much? Of course, he's grooming his coat. You might think that the obvious answer is that he's cleaning himself and that is the only reason why he does it. That is one reason but not the only reason. Not only is he cleaning away dust and dirt when he licks his coat he is also making his coat into a more efficient insulating layer. This keeps him warmer when required.

Cats do not have sweat glands. As you know sweat evaporates and cools us down. Instead of sweat, in warm weather, the cat will groom himself so that his saliva evaporates on his fur thereby cooling him down.

In addition, when a cat is lying in sunlight, vitamin D is produced on his hair.  A cat will lick off and ingest this vitamin D, an essential vitamin.

When we are agitated sometimes we scratch our head or bite our fingernails. Instead of this, a cat might lick his coat or his nose. A cat will feel better when he does it and it is called displacement activity.

You will notice that when we stroke our cat or handle our cat in anyway, he will often, shortly thereafter, groom himself. One reason for this is to smooth down the fur,  another reason is that he is tasting your scent that you deposited on his coat.  In addition he is removing your scent and letting his scent take its place. A cat prefers to have his fragrance on himself rather than our scent.

In addition to the above, in grooming himself, a cat will stimulate his skin glands at the base of individual hairs. The secretions from these glands help to keep his coat waterproof.

Sometimes, very rarely, a domestic cat will groom too much and this might be because he is stressed and he is using grooming to calm himself down. When a cat does this you will tend to see bald spots in his coat and usually in areas which are easily accessible such as the belly.

Finally, you will see domestic cats grooming each other. This is an act of friendship as we would expect it to be. The domestic cat has become quite social in his or her domestication and the concept that the domestic cat is a solitary animal is no longer true.

When a cat grooms another cat it is called allogrooming.  When a domestic cat grooms himself it is called autogrooming. You will notice that the domestic cat follows a set procedure when he grooms himself. And the domestic cat will groom  routinely at certain times (for example after eating) and in certain places (for example in a favourite chair after eating or against you when you are in bed).

A cat will nibble at his claws to remove any loose keratin and when he grooms around the eyes and ears he will deposit saliva on his paws and then use that to wash himself. I'm sure that you are familiar with this. I hope this helps.

Lion Cut Picture

This is a lion cut picture of the classic kind except that it was taken in a veterinary clinic. I think it was sensible of the veterinarians of Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic to decide to photograph their patients with their guardian's permission. It gives a different perspective on cat photography whilst also being educational. This photo has been used with permission for teaching/educational purposes at this website.

As you probably know the lion cut as applied to the long haired domestic cat is a hair cut that leaves the cat looking like a lion in that a false mane is created plus a brush of hair on the end of the tail. Also, in this lion cut picture, you'll see the fur on the legs below the hock.

Why request a lion cut? Would the cat consent if asked? The cat is the patient. Note: I don't know if the lion cut was done at a vets or at this clinic. It might not have. Vets do sometimes recommend a lion cut, however. So it must be for health reasons mainly.

Lion cut cat. Photo copyright Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic

This cat looks like a chinchilla type traditional Persian but I am probably wrong. The cat has pointing, a sort of tabby pointing (lynx pointing). She is a very pretty cat and it is a good lion cut. Her pupils are wide open probably because the interior was quite dimly lit in that area. It could be argued that the fur of the contemporary Persian cat is too long.

On the basis that a lion cut is for health reasons it must be because cat fur can be too long and pick up dirt etc.. This might apply to the contemporary Persian cat. Although you would be reluctant to shave the fur of a purebred cat as a breeder would have expended a considerable amount of energy in creating it! Long fur can become matted unless groomed almost daily. Someone might not like that aspect of keeping a cat and opt for the lion cut instead. In which case the cut was done for the cat caretaker's benefit.

Or the fur had become matted and the only solution was a lion cut. This must be the most common reason. We have to look to the cat's caretaker again and ask questions. Don't adopt a long haired cat unless you are prepared to groom her regularly.

Another and more obvious reason is fleas. Long fur is a good medium for the notorious cat flea and long fur is an obstacle to the 32 teeth to the inch flea comb. It might be a struggle to get a comb like that through extra long fur unless it is done perhaps twice per day - a lion cut sounds easier doesn't it? But is fair on the cat?

A downside to the lion cut is that it needs to be maintained. Also could a cat become sunburned if he or she went outside into the blazing mid-American sun for a while? A more important downside perhaps is that sometimes a vet will do it and anesthetize the cat. Anesthetizing a cat carries health risks and even, potentially, death in rare cases. That is worth factoring in. This last risk means that a cat lion cut should not be done for the cat caretaker's amusement.

Also we should consider the cat's emotions. It is not unreasonable to ask if the cat feels uncomfortable with a lion cut. A cat might well feel wrong and upset. The emotion might be shown in anxiety, nervousness or aggression depending on the cat.  Get grooming....