# Terrified of the hoover ... ?



## Lisa2701 (May 15, 2010)

As the thread title suggests my two kitties (they'll be 8 weeks on Tuesday) are terrified of the hoover. Ziggy more so than pippin but neither like it. Pippin tends to just find somewhere she can hunker down and hide but is happy to go close to the hoover as long as it's not on. Ziggy literally freaks out, panicking and running around trying to find a way out. I've tried them in their cage which is their safe place but that seemed worse for him. 

At the moment with them being so young they are confined to one room so it's not like they can go hide else where in the house and poor Ziggy FREAKS out. 

Although they were brought up in a busy house it was wooden flooring throughout so I'm guessing they never used a hoover. 

How can I desensitise them to it without absolutely terrifying them? Wondering if it's worth just popping them into another room? Or is it worth taking the time to help them over come their fear? 

Obviously they will not always be confined to one room so is this a big issue? Perhaps in a couple of weeks it's just a case of letting them go to another room? I did let them explore the hallway and stairs today so that's a start but at the moment that will only be during supervised play times and with a young child I can't play on stairs all day long... although it was fun so I'd love to lol. 

Any advice regarding the hoover situation would be appreciated.


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## Mirandashell (Jan 10, 2017)

Could you leave the hoovering until they are able to escape to another room?


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

A lot of kittens and older cats too are scared of the hoover. Just carry on as normal and make sure they have somewhere to hide if they want to. My kittens grow up with hearing a hoover from birth and it doesn't make any difference to them being scared or not. Two of my queens will vanish into the wardrobe as soon as the hoover comes out the other tolerates it but won't let it get too close. Their kittens either watch from a distance or scatter and hide


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## Mirandashell (Jan 10, 2017)

A lot of dogs are not keen either. Mine leaves the room as soon as it comes out of the cupboard.


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## Jackie C (Feb 16, 2016)

Could you avoid hoovering the room where they are? You could vacuum everywhere else, in other rooms, so they can hear the vacuum, but not as loud and direct. They might get used to it, then.


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## Lisa2701 (May 15, 2010)

Unfortunately because they are in the sittingroom and I have 2 dogs and a toddler avoiding hoovering just isn't an option. 

Just today I have given them some time to explore another room so perhaps in future I can let them explore the other room while I hoover. 

I was hoping there was a way to help them over come their fears, but I guess it'll get easier on them once they can just up and leave the room.


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## Lisa2701 (May 15, 2010)

Miranda my mums dog is hilarious. A real life scooby dog, genuinely! Scared of the day he hasn't seen. He's a large male working golden retriever and oh my goodness he was terrified of the hoover and would run out to the back garden as soon as the hoover came out and refused to come back in until the hoover left the room again. He has thankfully reached a place where he can tolerate it as long as he's up on the sofa out the way. Just funny as he's such a big boy but a bit of a woose.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

My two females (aged 3) have been terrified of the vacuum cleaner since I brought them home from the Rescue at 4 mths old. They have never really become more tolerant of it and it is essential when I want to vacuum that I make sure they have somewhere I can shut them away e.g. upstairs if I want to clean downstairs or vice versa. 

Even when they are shut away it takes them hours to get over the fear they feel, and one of them may even be in a jumpy cross mood the rest of the day.  Must say it doesn't half put one off doing the cleaning ! 

My boys are basically fine with the vacuum (a bit wary is all) and I have never had kitties before who are so scared of it as my two girls. All my attempts to desensitise them have not worked. I even forked out on one these expensive Bosch cylinder machines that claims to be 'silent' (it isn't! ) to no avail. 

Tbh I think it's better to give the kittens somewhere as far as possible from the loud noise to hide. I certainly wouldn't run the vacuum around them while they are in their cage. But move them and their cage to another room for the duration of the cleaning and then back again when you've finished..


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## Lisa2701 (May 15, 2010)

chillminx said:


> My two females (aged 3) have been terrified of the vacuum cleaner since I brought them home from the Rescue at 4 mths old. They have never really become more tolerant of it and it is essential when I want to vacuum that I make sure they have somewhere I can shut them away e.g. upstairs if I want to clean downstairs or vice versa.
> 
> Even when they are shut away it takes them hours to get over the fear they feel, and one of them may even be in a jumpy cross mood the rest of the day.  Must say it doesn't half put one off doing the cleaning !
> 
> ...


Aw Chillminx that's truly heart breaking!!

I will definitely not try them in their cage again. Tonight we have managed to get the playroom sorted so they can safely get in to explore and earlier today I let them explore the stairs so hopefully a week from now they'll be able to escape and between now and then I'll only hoover every other day and I think I'll pop them upstairs when I'm doing it. I definitely don't want to terrify them or make them scared for life of it. I hope they manage to over come it. I can see pippin learning to tolerate it but I'm not so sure about Ziggy.


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## Gallifreyangirl (Feb 11, 2015)

Jiggs runs behind the soft or upstairs or out when you get the hoover out and hes 10 this year.


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## Yorkshirecats (Oct 5, 2016)

Our cats seem to like the hoover and see it as a game/challenge to chase it and jump on it while it is moving. I have a cordless upright and there is usually a cat sat on it when I am hoovering! Same with sweeping brushes, they try to climb on!


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## Rhiannon2106 (Apr 9, 2016)

When I got my 2 (1.5 and 2.5 years old at the time) last March both were really frightened of the hoover. Mine is a cordless dyson so very easy to nip round with. Over time they have learned to tolerate it and often don't scarper until I'm right at them with the head of the hoover! They were both similar with the hairdryer. Lola settled with that within a few months and would happily lie sleeping on the bed as I dried my hair. Jess however always freaked out, and would dart out the bedroom. It's only been in the last few weeks, maybe since December time that its like it's 'clicked' and she's fine now. She'll happily sit on the window sill while the hairdryer is on. 

What I'm basically saying is that it might just take them time, it's not been that long and on my experience it's taken a very long time for some things to settle.


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## ZoeM (Jul 16, 2015)

I'd personally continue to expose them to the sound, as long as they could go someplace safe. My second cat was terribly timid as a kitten and I let him settle at his own pace and didn't ever 'push' him. He remained a timid cat all his life, and I wondered if he would ever have been more confident if I'd exposed him to more when I got him from the vet.


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## catloveryes (Jan 15, 2017)

I agree with the other posters about just continuing to expose them to the sound. Cats have really sensitive hearing, though, so if they don't acclimate eventually do you think it might be that the sound is hurting their ears?


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## huckybuck (Jan 17, 2014)

At 8 weeks I do think you have a chance to try get them used to it if you have the time and patience.

When I had Little H (a tiny bit older) he was terrified of it..a giant noisy monster!!!!! So I decided to turn it into a giant, friendly, noisy, monster!!!!










I left it in the kitchen at all times and would use his toys near and over it. I would also place treats on it. After he was confident to be around it and to touch it, I switched it on when he was at a distance and again used his favourite toys over it. I even got down and head butted it to show I liked it and it was friendly lol. We did this for just a few minutes at a time, a couple of times a day and immediately I switched it off I would encourage him to come over and play on it.

When I started to hoover properly I would sing and dance with it and gently edge nearer to him. I must have looked a lunatic!!!

He definitely got used to after a few weeks and although he won't touch it whilst it's on I can vacuum around him and he's quite happy to be near it.

We had a similar problem with my O/H's noisy shoes (we have tiled floors downstairs) as he had come from a carpeted house where everyone took their shoes off. We played the shoe game every day, throwing balls in them whilst they were still, then once he was confident to put his paws inside, I would lift one so it made a noise, building up gradually to the sound of walking on the tiles. He still loves the shoe game to this day lol!!


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Brilliant HB !


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## Cookieandme (Dec 29, 2011)

My lot only have to see me carrying the vacuum cleaner, until this week I have been using a dyson cordless, I bought the GTech Air ram this week and they hate that even more


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## huckybuck (Jan 17, 2014)

Cookieandme said:


> My lot only have to see me carrying the vacuum cleaner, until this week I have been using a dyson cordless, I bought the GTech Air ram this week and they hate that even more


I had to get rid of the G Tech couldn't bear the noise.

What do you hate most about vacuuming (THE NOISE!!!!!)

The dust cloud when you empty..gone! But what hasn't disappeared (IS THE NOISE!!!!!)

Makes quick work of getting rid of your dog!!!!!!

Is this the best vacuum cleaner ever??? (NO!!!!! THE NOISIEST!!!!!)


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## Temporally_Loopy (Jan 16, 2017)

Bertie is generally very outgoing BUT he also runs away from the vacuum cleaner, whereas he sits and looks into the washing machine even on spin cycle. I hadn't realised how much it would upset him when I first tried hoovering the sitting room when he was in the kitchen next door. In future I'll shut him either up or downstairs away from whichever I want to clean. I have left the vacuum cleaner in the kitchen for the last week so it's up to him if he wants to have a look at it without pressure. It's one thing for him not to want to be nearby when I'm using it, but I certainly don't want him scared of a piece of machinery.


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## Temporally_Loopy (Jan 16, 2017)

Honeybuck - just wanted to say - "stunning kitten".


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## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

Ahhh, the dreaded Sucky Monster. My two retreat both retreat to a different area of the house until it returns to hibernation


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