3 cats, 1 Vitamix blender box lead to epic struggle and a couple’s odd plea for help

It’s no surprise to hear of cats driving their owners to the brink, but the ongoing standoff in one Canada home is diabolical — even for cats.

This epic struggle involves three cats and one Vitamix box, according to Nikii and Jessica Gerson-Neeves of Victoria, British Columbia.

The couple, who qualify as innocent bystanders, simply want to take the blender out of the box.

The cats — named Max, “George, Destroyer of Worlds” and Lando Calrissian — each want the box for themselves and are defying anyone who tries to to open it.

A cold war is ongoing in the couple’s kitchen, with the cats keeping the box under 24-hour guard. This includes staring at it, pacing round it, sitting on top of it and threatening to fight each other over it.

Meanwhile, the Vitamix blender is still trapped inside, Jessica Gerson-Neeves wrote in a plea for help on the Vitamix Facebook page

It’s a predicament only cat lovers will understand, she says.

“We were quite delighted when it arrived on our doorstep several weeks ago, and immediately brought it inside and absently set it down on the kitchen floor ‘just for a quick second.’ That was our first mistake,” Jessica Gerson-Neeves wrote.

“That moment was two and a half weeks ago and since then, the Vitamix box has been occupied by at least one and sometimes two cats at all times. With three cats and only two humans in the household, the humans are outnumbered and (being giant suckers), both frightened of and unwilling to forcibly relocate the offending cats.”

The post, which has gotten 13,000 reactions and comments, included photos proving the defiant cats were clearly in control of both the box and the Gerson-Neeves household.

Fearing things could soon escalate, Jessica Gerson-Neeves made a strange and very specific request of Vitamix on social media.

“Without herculean intervention, we’re never going to get to use the new blender we’ve been longing for,” Gerson-Neeves wrote.

“Is there — I cannot believe I am honestly asking this — any possibility at all that y’all would be willing to send us three (the number is very important, as there are three cats and we need there to be one extra so we can hopefully get the actual blender out of the box) empty Vitamix boxes?”

Not just any boxes will do, she added. They had to be Vitamix boxes.

“Other cardboard boxes seem to lack the appeal of the Vitamix box and since, much like your wonderful blenders, this stand-off seems to be Built To Last, we’re afraid that this may be our only way out of the situation,” she wrote.

Vitamix took notice of the kitchen showdown and the odd request, reacting with a sense of humor on Jan. 4 and explaining a team had been ordered to “stop what they’re doing and #sendtheboxes.”

“We’ve assessed your predicament and come to the following conclusions: Firstly, we’re firm believers you cannot move a cat from its post,” the company wrote.

“Secondly, our great engineers designed these boxes for ultimate protection of the Vitamix unit. Little did they know, the possibility of a chonkier unit atop the unopened box would pose a problem. We’ll chat with them later.”

Nikii Gerson-Neeves shared the company’s response in a Facebook post that also acknowledge the couple’s “weird, weird life.”

“Yes, I’m aware this is the strangest friggin’ thing,” she wrote.

This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 1:39 PM with the headline "3 cats, 1 Vitamix blender box lead to epic struggle and a couple’s odd plea for help."