B.C. cat standoff concludes with delivery of new blender after 47 days

Before it became the stage for a viral cat coup that came to an unexpected conclusion, it was simply a box with a blender in it.

"I brought it inside," Jessica Gerson-Neeves says. "And set it down for a quick second."

Which was just enough time for a cat named Anaximander Reginald Ramiel (a.k.a. Max) to jump on the unopened, just-purchased box and refuse to get off.

"And that was the beginning of the end," Jessica’s wife, Nikii Gerson-Neeves, says.

The couple posted a picture of Max on the box on a Facebook group and jokingly described it as "Breaking news" and a "stand-off."

"I woke up the next morning," Jessica says. “The post had 10,000 interactions.”

And the box with the blender still inside? It was now being held hostage by another cat named Lando Calrissan.

Max was sitting below (seemingly indignant over being usurped) while a third cat named George Destroyer of Worlds was poised for action beside them.

Jessica posted a followup.

“Again people lost their minds,” Jessica says. “It really took on a life of its own.”

Thanks to daily updates featuring Jessica's comic commentary, the cats' power plays, and the couple’s failed attempts to fool the cats with decoy boxes, more than 53,000 people around the world followed the hostage situation.

The fans all seemed grateful that Jessica and Nikii refrained from just picking up the cats and taking out the blender.

“We’re having fun. The cat’s are certainly having fun. So many other people are having fun,” Jessica says. “The blender will still be there when this runs its course.”

But then on Day 45, a delivery. Vitamix had gifted them a new blender.

So the couple decided to do things differently this time.

Nikii held the box above the kitchen floor while Jessica juggled a large knife to open it and a broom to keep the cats at bay.

After successfully releasing their new appliance (and posing for a picture holding it above their heads victoriously), the couple immediately used it to make margaritas.

“It was triumphant!” Nikii says.

“The best margarita any of us had ever had!” Jessica adds.

Max (who was on the original box at the time) did not join in the celebrations and remained vigilant the next day.

“You may have a Vitamix,” that day’s post said. “But I still have the Vitamix.”

But the morning after that… “I kind of staggered out of the bedroom and really looked at the kitchen,” Jessica recalls. “It was completely deserted. Not a cat in sight.”

For the first time in 47 days, all the boxes were unoccupied. Jessica says it was almost like the cats realized that their attempt to hold the original blender hostage was now futile.

“Which is a little scary,” Jessica adds. “Because if they had thumbs, God knows what they’d do.”

Nikii and Jessica have given the original blender to their upstairs neighbours and are still contemplating what to do with the original blender box. Perhaps they'll auction it off for charity.

While they plan to keep posting about their cat’s exploits, they’re also considering the lessons learned from the comical coup.

“You find joy where it lives,” Jessica says. “If where it lives is a 47-day standoff with your cats that goes weirdly viral because everybody needs a good laugh, then go for it!”