Roomba-kitty?

I'm beginning to think to cats think the roomba is another round, rather thick, not furry, cat.

It broke a while back, right as the warranty ran out, so we went back to hoovering. The cats hated it: hiding, attacking the vacuum, hissing at it, attacking the person using it...it was not pleasant. Then I found this little place that specialises in out of warranty roomba repairs, and when we contacted them it was surprisingly affordable (we certainly couldn't afford to buy a replacement!). So we sent it off and got it back before christmas - fully repaired and working wonderfully.

The first clue the cats were glad to see it was when I started it up, and Stephen proceeded to feed it. He scooped kibble up in his mouth, sat down, and proceeded to drop it directly in front of the roomba. When it had hoovered that bit up, he went and got another. He has also taken to sitting in doorways or by the top of the stairs and smacking the front bumper with a paw if it gets too close.

I had no clue Matilda felt the same. She normally runs away from it. And then, this afternoon, she came in and raised a ruckus. She was running back and forth, yowling, wapping my ankles with a paw, running to the door and back, so I got up to follow her. I rather assumed Stephen was in trouble (again). Instead there's Matilda standing in front of a table meowing frantically as the roomba bumps back and forth underneath it, having got stuck.It chose that moment to make it's soft despondent "lost" noise and stop moving. Matilda froze, staring at it and gave me a look I can only interpret as "It's died!". I fished it out, started it up again and told her it was going to be fine. I don't think she believes me - right now she's sitting next to it, intently watching it charge.

Not quite roomba-driving but having two cats roomba-mothering is still funny.

Then again, since they have discovered that the alternative is the evil hoover, I think they want to ensure it stays in good health for a long time to come.