One morning, the Princess is wearing a sunhat and sunglasses. She explains that there's a picnic, and she'll be wading in the pond. She starts to blow up her floatie, but sneezes and it deflates and lands on Puss. She wakes up the King and Queen, now with the floatie on, then sneezes twice more. At the breakfast table, she's very eager to go out, and also has a runny nose but doesn't notice. The Princess then yells, "Picnic time!" at the Maid and Chef, startling them.
At the picnic, the Princess runs towards the pond in her underwear, but then starts coughing. The adults, concerned about the Princess's sneezing, runny nose, and coughing in that order, worry that she may be sick and the Maid lifts her up. The Princess yells, "But I want to paddle!", but the Maid tells her she must not lest she is indeed sick. The Princess tries to say she isn't but then sneezes on Puss.
Everybody goes back, then the doctor reveals that the Princess has a cold and must stay in bed. Puss, meanwhile, is worried that he's caught her cold and is nervously listening to his heart with one of the doctor's stethoscopes.
Later, in the morning, the Princess complains about her cold, with the mistaken impression that it's a substance that comes out of her facial orifices via coughing, sneezing, and nose-blowing. Puss, meanwhile, has been experiencing similar symptoms. The Princess then feels hungry, and erroneously believes it's because she has room for food due to having less of the substance in her. She yells, "I'm hungry!", so the Maid brings her broth, much to her distaste, as she'd prefer a picnic.
Some time later, the Princess looks out the window as the adults play outside, jealous of them because they get to have fun. The Maid enters and tells her off for getting up, then the Princess decides to have a pretend picnic with her toys. However, she can't reach her tea set without getting up... so, she rides to it in her dolls' pram instead.
The adults come in, with the doctor, and the Princess says that she's recovered and it's Puss who has her cold now. The doctor, to Puss's relief and embarrassment, lets everyone know that "cats can't get people colds", but that the Princess is better.
They try to have a do-over with the picnic, but then all the adults sneeze and the Princess leads them inside, assuming they've caught her cold. She doesn't mind, however, since she gets to be in charge.
This episode provides examples of
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Puss wears sunglasses to the picnic.
- Appetite Equals Health: The narrator thinks the Princess being hungry is a good sign (even though the cold never affected her appetite in the first place).
- Artistic License – Medicine: Subverted. It seems as though Puss has caught the Princess's cold despite being a cat, but then the doctor says that cats don't catch "people colds", revealing his symptoms to be psychosomatic.
- Bittersweet Ending: The episode ends with the picnic ending and the adults ambiguously sick, but the adults also may be okay, and the Princess is happy that she gets to be in charge.
- Cock-a-Doodle Dawn: A rooster is seen crowing in the morning at the start of the episode, then again for another morning.
- Does Not Like Spam: The Princess thinks the broth looks and tastes disgusting.
- Faint in Shock: Puss passes out after the Princess sneezes on him and he thinks he may be catching her cold.
- Foot Bath Treatment: At the end, the General, who the Princess thinks has a cold, is seen with his feet soaking... in the Princess's potty.
- Happy Dance: The Princess dances in joy when she recovers.
- Here We Go Again!: Downplayed. The ending leaves it unclear whether the adults actually have colds or not.
- Hypochondria: Puss spends most of the episode convinced that he's caught the Princess's cold.
- Illness Blanket: The Princess wraps the General and Chef in blankets when she thinks they're sick.
- Infection Scene: Subverted. The Princess sneezes on Puss, then for the rest of the episode, he's seen sneezing, coughing, etc., but at the end of the episode, it's revealed that, since "cats can't catch people colds", his symptoms were all psychosomatic.
- Jumping-to-Conclusions Diagnosis: The adults sneezed exactly once, and it's implied to be spring in the episode, but the Princess assumes they're all sick.
- Loophole Abuse: The Princess can't reach her tea set without getting up, and she's not allowed to get up due to her cold, so she rides in her dolls' pram.Princess: "What? My feet never touched the floor!"
- Mistaken for Dying: Implied. When Puss thinks he's caught the Princess's cold, he's seen lying on her bed holding a rose at one point, indicating that he thinks he may die.
- Nose Nuggets: The Princess's cold causes her to have a runny nose, and while this isn't normally played for laughs, there is the odd gag, like her sneezing on Puss and her not noticing her runny nose at the breakfast table.
- Out Sick: The picnic is cancelled first because the Princess is sick, then because she thinks the adults are sick.
- Pet Dress-Up: The Princess puts a hat on Scruff when pretending he's the Admiral.
- Sequential Symptom Syndrome: The Princess manages to do this to herself via flashback, and to Puss. She says, "It blows out of my mouth...", then we get a flashback of her and Puss sneezing, then she says, "...and it runs out of my nose..." and the scene cuts to a flashback of her and Puss blowing their noses, then she finishes, "...and it coughs out of my chest", and we get a flashback of them coughing.
- Sick Episode: The Princess, as you can probably tell from the title, catches a cold in this episode.
- Soup Is Medicine: The Princess is served broth when she has a cold, then at the end of the episode, she wants to give the Chef some broth when she thinks he's caught her cold.
