What Cats Are Thinking When They Get the Zoomies

Over nine years ago, I made an animation called “What Cats Think When They Show You Their Butthole,” and to my surprise, people loved it. That one silly video turned into a whole series where I try to capture the internal dialogue of my cat, Mayor McCheese. Since then, I’ve animated everything from her imagining herself as the world’s greatest hunter, to the ongoing dilemma of being both a fierce predator and unbearably cute.

This latest video has been sitting in my head for a long time: what cats are thinking when they get the zoomies. If you’ve ever lived with a cat, you know the moment. One second they’re calm, the next they’re a blur sprinting across the room. Whenever McCheese does it, I’ll usually say, “Wow, did you see how fast that was?” and my wife will reply, “I just saw a blur.” That playful back-and-forth inspired the entire video.

The animation took shape slowly over the last few months. Every night before bed, I’d sketch a little more in RoughAnimator, eventually pulling it together with Final Cut and some audio I recorded outside my window for the background.

These animations are for anyone who’s ever looked at their cat and thought, what’s going on in that little head? If you’ve enjoyed the previous videos, I think you’ll love this one too.