A dog can't push a vaccuum cleaner, but I see no reason why he shouldn't be able to pull one.
So why not make a small vaccuum cleaner, operating on a rechargable battery, that you can yoke to a small dog (or large cat)? As the animal roams the house, it vaccuums the floor. As an added bonus, the weight of the vaccuum cleaner will prevent smaller pets from jumping up on the furniture. Not recommended for any floor above ground level in multi-story homes.-- Guncrazy, Nov 03 2001 not your most vaccuuus idea-- po, Nov 03 2001 Could this be a wet vac? Then no need to walk the dog. Maybe add a filter device to clean the box for cats too?-- bobzaguy, Nov 03 2001 Good idea, BUT... Have you ever tried to attach something to a cat? I have enough trouble keeping the collar on mine, let alone a vaccuum cleaner... I voted for it, just because it was creative :-)-- magnificat, Nov 05 2001 Every cat I've ever owned ran in holy terror from the vacuum. I don't think this would be good for a cat's mental health. (The dogs were of mixed opinions -- some were scared and some barked at it.)-- arghblah, Nov 05 2001 Ever put a dog under a beanbag chair?-- thumbwax, Nov 05 2001 My boyhood cat *loved* being vacuumed (with the brush attachment, not the base unit, duh). For what it's worth.-- DrBob, Nov 05 2001 I voted for it just for the visual of a cat running around the house trying to get away from the gawd-awful sound, when it's attached to it. Knocking over lamps, tables, chairs, vases, etc, and then cleaning it up with the vacuum. Did any of you ever tape baby socks to the cat's feet? No? Well, uh, ... neither did I.-- barnzenen, Nov 05 2001 For what it's worth-- not much-- I think this is the epitome of demiboulangerie thought. If the vacuuming may be done at leisure, perhaps at random: choose a dog. If in ten minutes, or fifteen, max: choose a cat, but be prepared to disentangle all the cords, loose upholstery, small movable objects, windowshades, houseplants, etc. from the howling, frothing ball that results. My expectations are built upon dressing our three cats, when I was a kid, in my sister's doll clothes. Think of Tom Kitten: we did. Then the obligatory photo by parents laughing so hard they could hardly hold the camera still. Then turning the cats loose on the lawn to zoom randomly around, somersaulting, twisting, and tearing through the undergrowth with parts of their costumes trailing closely behind. The idea can also be applied to leaf blowers.-- hagfish, Nov 05 2001 What, dressing them in doll clothes?-- hello_c, Nov 08 2001 It would definately get the place either vacuumed or destroyed pretty quickly. I once scared one of my cats so badly by just taking it out of the closet that it ran up a seven foot closed door. It bounced off the ceiling then cowered in a corner behind a bookshelf.
As to attaching other things to cats...I once clipped a hemostat to the fur on one of my cats' tails...She went screeching around the room so fast I couldn't catch her <And the fact that I was laughing so hard I could barely walk didn't help...> until finally she wound down, apparently forgot about it, and sat down to do the indignant cat thing...and flipped her tail around to cover her paws. The 'stat bopped her side, she bounced three feet sideways without changing her pose <I swear!> and raced out the cat door, losing the 'stat in the process. I lay limply on the floor, having difficulty breathing and frightening the other cat <the door climber>...-- StarChaser, Nov 11 2001 A tiny quieter one would be great for hamsters, they can reach all those hard to clean areas and keep running all night. When you wake in the morning the house would be spotless. If the hoover had a bleeper then hammy would also be easy to find again. When the bags got full he could always store the dust, lego, lost money etc. in his pouches.-- arora, Nov 12 2001 Hamsters! What a great idea! Let me explain.
If you have ever owned a pet rodent (hamsters, gerbils, etc), you will know that whenever they get loose, they run around your house into all of the small spaces that you can't reach leaving little droppings every foot or so behind them (more if it's somewhere *really* hard to clean). With little, gerbil-sized vaccuum cleaners to clean up their "messes," finding and cleaning everything that they touched would not be necessary anymore! The vaccuum cleaners would also allow you to keep your pet out of its cage without worrying about losing it (the sound would tell you where it is), having it get stuck in some small, cramped space and die (its machine would be too big to go with it, so it would have to turn around), or not being able to catch it (the machine would slow it down).
Hey, Guncrazy and arora, may I post this idea? I'll link back here and give you credit for inspiring me... Please?-- Galileo, Nov 12 2001 Galileo: Fine by me-- arora, Nov 13 2001 [Star]: re your cat story - I can picture it happening. My no 2 cat got his head stuck in the handle of a plastic carrier bag full of plant pots (the pots had been used for lavender plants, and the smell made him curious). He charged around the house, banging the bag off walls and furniture and scattering plant pots far and wide until he managed to dislodge it, at which point he sat down and washed himself. Two minutes later all was forgotten, but junior cat who had witnessed all this was traumatized for days, and still has flashbacks.-- angel, Nov 13 2001 I've seen a dog use a shovel (in front of the dog, attached using a harness) to clear snow from a driveway, so I think this is doable.
// Could this be a wet vac? Then no need to walk the dog. //
How does a wet vacuum cleaner provide more exercise than a dry one?-- notexactly, Dec 07 2019 random, halfbakery