My cat is afraid of the vacuum.

And I don't know why. I've had him since he was a tiny baby, and he's never once been traumatized by it, but everytime someone touches it, he runs now and I won't see him for about 30 minutes. Usually he hides under my bed or in a closet. One time he got so nervous he ran into something and hurt himself

Does anyone else have this issue? Is this just a cat thing? A loud noise issue?

I think that it may be a combination of being a big, scary noise issue, and a cat issue. Marcie is afraid of the big upright vacuum, but she just ignores the Roomba and the little Dustbuster.

Perhaps he heard it turn on at some point...it can be pretty loud. I think he'll eventually get over it as he grows bigger and gets used to hearing it more often.

Cats are small animals, it's natural for them to flee if they feel threatened. They also have very sensitive hearing.

I don't know about anyone else, but as a child I know I didn't like the vacuum cleaner Even now I hate the noise and use it as quickly as possible, or if someone else is using it I will leave the room.

My cats split when they hear it too, it's normal. Of course the second I turn it off both of them will be sniffing it, so I know they're not completely terrified.

Absolutely normal. Nearly every cat hates the vacuum cleaner. It's big and loud, causes a lot of vibration, and messes with the cat's environment... all reasons to fear it.

My female kitten will run and hide when I start the vacuum, but the male doesn't seem to notice. It's kind of funny to note these differences in their behavior.

My male notices quick movements and bursts of brightness on the TV but the female doesn't appear to know that the TV exists as a sound/picture broadcasting device. It seems that he can follow our fishing rod toy easier too...She can never see the thing unless it's right in front of her face. She isn't blind though and picks up the deer moving 15 feet away from the window.