Almost everyone, adults and kids alike have a natural fondness for cats. They are loving, quiet, and very playful pets that can provide you with years of entertainment. Although most of us have a fondness for cats, that fondness can rapidly diminish when it comes to the litter box. Even the most hardened cat lover may get tired of litter box duty, especially when it comes down to scooping you know what from the litter box. Cats are very intelligent, instinctively knowing how they should use the litter box. After the cat has finished using the litter box, someone in the family will need to scoop the waste from the litter box. This can be a very dirty and somewhat smelly job, one that is often overlooked during the day when the workload gets heavy.

Cleaning up the litter box does not take but a few minutes, although most would prefer not to do it at all. Although the litter box will need to be scooped out daily, it will also need to be changed once a week as well, by throwing the current bag out and replacing the box with a new bag and fresh litter. Those who do not like to scoop out the litter box should invest in one of the best inventions ever the self cleaning litter box. These litter boxes are easy to use, and will keep the area clean. After the cat has used it, the self cleaning litter box will automatically clean the litter either by sifting or using a device that resembles a rake. Self cleaning boxes that use shifting will often times have a round design. Once the cat leaves the covered box, the dome on top will revolve for the box to clean. The litter in the box will be shifted with the waste being put below the litter where it is discarded. Once the waste is properly disposed of, the litter will be returned to its normal position in the box for the cat to use again. Boxes that have raking systems will often times sport a rectangular design.

Once the cat leaves the box, the rake will automatically come out and clean the litter. The rake will clean all of the litter in the box, including the clumps of waste as well. Rakes are popular, although the shifting litter boxes are by far more popular and more common. Those who are often times away from home could greatly benefit from a self cleaning litter box. They are great to have for cats that spend a lot of time by themselves, as they virtually eliminate any scooping of litter on your part. You can find them at your local pet or department store, even online as well. They are very affordable and ideal for anyone who does not like scooping waste from their litter box.

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December 11, 1948 |color_processTechnicolor |runtime 7 23" |movie_languageEnglish language |preceded_by[[Professor Tom]] |followed_by[[Polka-Dot Puss]] }} Mouse Cleaning is a [[1948 in film|1948]] one-reel [[animated cartoon]] and is the 38th [[Tom and Jerry]] short subject The title is a play on "house cleaning". It was produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on December 11, 1948 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer It was animated by Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ed Barge, who were the usual animators for the Tom and Jerry cartoons in the early 1940s up until the late 1950s. As per most Tom and Jerry cartoons, it was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and produced by Fred Quimby; no writer is credited. The music was scored by Scott Bradley and the backgrounds were by Robert Gentle.lt;/ref>

Plot

The cartoon opens with Mammy Two Shoes mopping the kitchen floor. Right after she finishes, she is happy to have cleaned the entirehouse and hopes it will remain clean; unfortunately, it doesnt, as the camera cuts to Tom chasing Jerry outside, rounding a corner too wide and through a mud puddle and then continuing the chase into the house. He runs into Mammy and she hits him with the mop chastises him for making such a huge mess and forces him to mop the floor. As Tom finishes, Mammy goes out for shopping. She warns Tom not to make any mess in the house, otherwise hell be thrown out: "If I find one spot of dirt in this house when I get back, we is gonna be minus onecat around here. Understand?" Tom nods his head in fright and Jerry, hiding behind a broom also nods his head, ready as usual to take stock of the situation to sabotage Toms efforts. After Mammy closes the door, Tom sticks his tongue out at her and makes a face, but she opens the door and points her finger at Tom, giving him a final warning to keep the place clean. Tom then nods again and kisses her finger, smiling politely, and satisfied, the maid leaves. For the rest of the cartoon, the mouse takes advantage of this conditional to torment the cat. Tom finishes the remainder of the cleaning, and relieved, Tom wipes the sweat off his forehead, but immediately has to clean this up in addition. A fly buzzes through the room and leaves dirt behind on one of the windows, so he has to wipe the window down to boot, but is shocked out of his wits to see Jerry busting in on the fun by deliberately scooping Cigar ash from an ashtray onto the floor. Tom quickly grabs a broom and dustpan and cleans up the mess, but no sooner has he finished than the rodent is on the floor, holding the ashtray like a parade drum and tripping the switch to dump more ashes onto the ground. Shocked and fed up, Tom angrily hurls a tomato at him, and Jerry ducks as the tomato splatters into the wall, creating an even bigger mess for Tom to clean. In apoplexy the cat collects a bucket and starts to clean the wall, but as usual, he does not concentrate on the bucket and fails to spot Jerry deliberately ejecting blue ink from an ink pen into the bucket. Midway through cleaning up the tomato, Tom has created an identically sized mess of blue ink on the wall, and he realizes what has happened when he becomes aware that the water and towel are blue. In absolute dread, the cat covers his eyes and slowly peeks at his new mess, and then lifts his hand; his eyes exaggeratedly pop out and his jaw drops. File MouseCleaning3.jpg Soon he sees Jerry holding the ink pen, and he starts a new chase in complete rage, which quickly stops when the mouse threatens to squirt ink over the drapes Smirking, he carries out this threat, but no ink escapes; apparently, the pen is empty. The cat, delighted, steals the pen and accidentally empties it onto the drapes. In horror, he grabs the drapes and runs them through the washing machine the wringer and the iron (appliance) Exhausted, the cat replaces the drapes and breathes out hoarsely. No sooner does this happen than Jerry has returned to his sabotage; this time, he deliberately juggles six Egg (food) while walking a tightrope forcing the cat to protect him in case he falls and, eventually, to catch the eggs when Jerry flings them across the room. In addition to juggling, Tom is forced to catch a cream pie on a fork using only his head, barely standing up. As the coup de grace Jerry deliberately pulls the rug from under Tom, and although the cat recovers in time to snatch the egg carton and catch every egg in it, he forgets about the pie, which splatters onto his face. Having been humiliated again, Tom searches for Jerry, but shortly the mouse opens the front door for an old horse to walk into the house. Tom scares Jerry back out of the house as he quickly grabs the horse and throws him out (which makes the horse go back to his farm), presumably doing away with Jerry in the process, and while his enemy is occupied with this, Jerry takes the opportunity to unknowingly re-enter the house through an electrical outlet marked Emergency Entrance ready for another scheme. Tom goes to sleep, apparently rid of all threats. Meanwhile, Jerry pushes an ink stamp pad onto Toms paws, and when the cat wakes up, he shuts the pad on Toms nose before the cat can process what he sees; accordingly, Tom forgets about the stamp pad and chases the mouse. Jerry leads Tom on an off-screen chase through the entire house, and when the duo finally pulls back into view, Jerry stops the chase and points the cat to look at the gigantic mess of paw print he must now clean up. Looking at his now ink-covered paws, Tom makes the connection and picks up the mouse, hurls him down the laundry chute and races to clean the house before Mammy returns. Meanwhile, a truck full of coal has come to the house to make a delivery; Jerry grabs a rope and ties it to the delivery chute. On the verge of finishing the sanitizing job, Tom sees Mammy coming up the sidewalk he hurriedly finishes, then stows the cleaning supplies behind the couch and sits down hopefully, ready for Mammys return. Jerry pulls the delivery chute up to the living room such that the entireshipment of coal literallybarges into the house (Jerry is not seen again afterwards), pushing Tom and then knocks Mammy down when she opens the front door. As soon as she digs her head out from the coal, she begins threatening to throttle Tom, despite the utter impossibility of Toms cause for this new mess. Just then, Tom emerges in blackface Thinking that he is a black man with information on Tom, Mammy asks him if he saw Tom. Tom, knowing that he is in trouble now, responds (via Stepin Fetchit s voice) that he hasnt: "No, Maam! I aint seen no cat around here! Uh uh! There aint no cat, no place, no how! No MAAM!". Tom, meanwhile, walks away from the coal pile, but only his head is blackened, so Mammy finally sees through Toms disguise. As she begins to pelt coal angrily at Tom, he taunts her and tries to run away, but Mammy throws a piece of coal which is as large as a dive bomb into the distance and it ends up hitting Tom square on the head, knocking him out in an identical fashion to [[Tee for Two]]as the cartoon ends.

Voice cast

*Lillian Randolph as Mammy Two Shoes (original) (uncredited) *Thea Vidale as Mammy Two Shoes (dubbed version) (uncredited) *Stepin Fetchit as Tom (uncensored version) (uncredited)

Censorship and Bans

Tom in blackface speaking while sneaking away from Mammy is deleted. Warner Home Video had this cartoon on their list of 2 cartoons (the other being [[Casanova Cat]] to be pulled from the [[Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection]] - Volume 3DVD compilation because of the scene where Mammy emerges from the coal and discovers the "black man" is actually Tom.lt;/ref>

Availability

*Mouse Cleaningcan be found on the 1990 MGM/UA Home Video VHS compilation Tom and Jerrys 50th Birthday Classics 3.lt;/ref> *The original version (with Lillian Randolphs voice) is intact on UK TV airings, as well as being available on Volume 2 of the Tom and Jerry Classic Collection *This cartoon was skipped over on the Spotlight Collection, Volume 3DVD release in 2007. It had been recently announced that Mouse Cleaningwould be available on the [[Tom and Jerry Golden Collection]] - Volume 2on DVD and Blu-ray Disc with the short being presented uncut, uncensored, and restored from its original nitrate elements that had been recently discovered.http://www.cartoonbrew.com/classic/tom-jerry-on-blu-ray.html However, on February 6, 2013, it was announced by TVShowsOnDVD.com that Mouse Cleaningwas not part of the list of cartoons on this release, as well as the cartoon [[Casanova Cat]] which was also skipped over on the Spotlight Collection, Volume 3DVD release.lt;/ref> Many collectors and fans are now posting negative reviews of the product on Amazon and other various websites to make Warner put this cartoon and Casanova Caton the release.

References

External links

* * Category 1948 films Category Tom and Jerry cartoons