My Cat Jumped off the Balcony!
Richard Kiss
It happened a few days ago.
There is a lot of junk on my balcony, and I guess she was under some of
it. She heard me clattering around out there, and I don't know if she
thought I was something scary, or if she knew it was me and decided that
she wasn't ready to come in, but essentially, she decided she needed to
get on the railing in a hurry -- probably to go over to the neighbour's
side.
She emerged from the junk, jumped up onto some boxes, leapt onto the
balcony, and couldn't stop, so she leapt -- literally leapt -- off the
balcony, with all her might, a beautiful majestic streak into the night. I
live on the second floor. Luckily, she cleared the cement sidewalk, and
landed in the bushes.
I was panicked -- fearful, yet for a brief instant, strangely proud. I
looked down and saw her running as fast as I've ever seen her, to the
stairs. She darted up the stairs, so I went to the front door, opened it,
and she came in.
Her tail was much more poofy than normal for a while. I examined her
looking for puncture wounds, broken bones or torn tendons, but besides
being very shaken up, she seemed absolutely fine.
-------------------------------------------------------
I have a web site with my cute Calico kitty named Jane. There are some
interesting (and some admittedly dull) photos there, including a shot of
her drinking from a faucet and some stop-action shots of her jumping in
the air. Also, hear her meow in .WAV format.
If you like goofy Calicos with big blue eyes, check her out. Comments welcome.
-- Richard Kiss
http://www.slip.net/~kiss/
Robyn Gold
Cats are so amazing, arent' they? My cat once jumped from
a five story building and emerged unharmed.
I heard somewhere that when cats fall they instinctively
spread all four paws outward, and because where the paws
connects to their underbellies is somewhat webbed, it has a
kite-like effect, helping them 'fly' downwards.
VaticanRag
I have heard that cats always land on their feet and bread always lands
butter side down. So I strapped a piece of buttered bread to my cats'
back and threw her out the window. That was three weeks ago and she's
still rotating about a foot off the ground !! VR
Tirya
Richard Kiss (ki...@slip.net) said...
> Her tail was much more poofy than normal for a while. I examined her
> looking for puncture wounds, broken bones or torn tendons, but besides
> being very shaken up, she seemed absolutely fine.
I was watching a show on animal medicine a while ago, and they talked
about "Skyscraper Syndrome" in cats (I think that was what it was called)
- basically, compression fractures in the long bones of the legs casued
when a cat falls out of a window and lands on its feet. The bones in the
legs are compressed lengthwise and can fracture that way.
(Note, this was a while ago, but I'm 99% sure that was the diagnosis)
I don't know if a two story/20-foot fall would cause it, but you may want
to mention it to your vet, just in case.
Tirya
--
ti...@enteract.com http://www.enteract.com/~tirya NO JUNK EMAIL
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Did you see his face? Could you spot him in a crowd? I don't *think* so!
- Cat
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Elaine Gallegos
She could get hurt really bad next time jumping from the balcony.
Restrict her to the house, or screen in the balcony.
Richard Kiss <ki...@slip.net> wrote:
: It happened a few days ago.
: There is a lot of junk on my balcony, and I guess she was under some of
: it. She heard me clattering around out there, and I don't know if she
: thought I was something scary, or if she knew it was me and decided that
: she wasn't ready to come in, but essentially, she decided she needed to
: get on the railing in a hurry -- probably to go over to the neighbour's
: side.
: She emerged from the junk, jumped up onto some boxes, leapt onto the
: balcony, and couldn't stop, so she leapt -- literally leapt -- off the
: balcony, with all her might, a beautiful majestic streak into the night. I
: live on the second floor. Luckily, she cleared the cement sidewalk, and
: landed in the bushes.
: I was panicked -- fearful, yet for a brief instant, strangely proud. I
: looked down and saw her running as fast as I've ever seen her, to the
: stairs. She darted up the stairs, so I went to the front door, opened it,
: and she came in.
: Her tail was much more poofy than normal for a while. I examined her
: looking for puncture wounds, broken bones or torn tendons, but besides
: being very shaken up, she seemed absolutely fine.
: -------------------------------------------------------
: I have a web site with my cute Calico kitty named Jane. There are some
: interesting (and some admittedly dull) photos there, including a shot of
: her drinking from a faucet and some stop-action shots of her jumping in
: the air. Also, hear her meow in .WAV format.
: If you like goofy Calicos with big blue eyes, check her out. Comments welcome.
: -- Richard Kiss
: http://www.slip.net/~kiss/
--
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Elaine Gallegos
sat...@primenet.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
elizabeth
Tirya wrote:
>
> Richard Kiss (ki...@slip.net) said...
> > Her tail was much more poofy than normal for a while. I examined her
> > looking for puncture wounds, broken bones or torn tendons, but besides
> > being very shaken up, she seemed absolutely fine.
>
> about "Skyscraper Syndrome" in cats (I think that was what it was called)
> - basically, compression fractures in the long bones of the legs casued
> when a cat falls out of a window and lands on its feet. The bones in the
> legs are compressed lengthwise and can fracture that way.
>
> (Note, this was a while ago, but I'm 99% sure that was the diagnosis)
>
> I don't know if a two story/20-foot fall would cause it, but you may want
> to mention it to your vet, just in case.
>
> Tirya
> --
My cat regularly jumps off the second-story balcony. At first, I was
quite scared as to the results of the fall, but he seems to like doing
it. He'll wander around for a while and then come back to the front
door. Fortunately, the back yard is very soft and breaks the fall well.
I guess a short drop like that isn't to be worried about, but more than
two stories would be pretty bad, I'd think. I saw the Discovery program
and the cat injuries peaked at about 4 stories - the more time the cat
spent in the air, the more relaxed he/she was and the fewer injuries
he/she suffered. Weird.
-elizabeth
--
NOTE: To avoid getting junk email, I have altered
my return address. Just remove the xx's.
Susan Mudgett aka little gator
My first cat, Eeaoo, jumped or fell 15 feet from a second storey
window and fractured her pelvis.
Zinzan
>I guess a short drop like that isn't to be worried about, but more than
>two stories would be pretty bad, I'd think. I saw the Discovery program
>and the cat injuries peaked at about 4 stories - the more time the cat
>spent in the air, the more relaxed he/she was and the fewer injuries
>he/she suffered. Weird.
I think the deal is that above 4 stories the cat will spread its limbs
out, increasing wind resistance and therefore decreasing her speed.
Below four it's not too long a fall. So four is bad, two is fine and
so is 20 :)
&scott
Alain Vervais
My cat fell/jumped from the mezzanine down to a hardwood floor (inside
my house) many times (I've seen him do it 3 times). It is about a 13
feet jump since he does it from the top of the ramp. He doesn't seem to
mind it besides shaking his head a few times upon landing! I was really
scared everytime I saw him do this and tried different types of
punishments but cats are cats and there is not much I can do short of
fencing up the inside of my house.
Alain Vervais
Elizabeth Schwab
My cat Baby Girl either jumped or fell from my bathroom window. Note, I
live on the ninth floor of a downtown apartment building. When I came
home from work that day, I was hysterical. I mean, after all, my baby was
gone (read like a bad hospital drama)! Found her at the apartment
many floors below me, who had gone out of their window and picked her up
off of the roof covering the loading dock. She was soaked through (it was
raining) and miserable, but I got her to the vet and she had miraculously
only broken one leg and fractured her pelvis. He casted her up, and sent
her home the next day. Needless to say, she didn't stand for that cast
for too long. Two weeks into the ordeal, I had the cast replaced, and
then in two more weeks she removed the cast herself! (I'm so proud of my
little one!) The doctor said she should be fine, but to restrain her.
Restrain her? Hah! That'll be the day.
==========================================================================
| Elizabeth H. Schwab | "WE are the musicmakers, |
| 111 East Ave., Apt. 943 | WE are the dreamers of the dreams!"|
| Rochester, NY 14604 | -- Willy Wonka |
| es0...@uhura.cc.rochester.edu | |
==========================================================================
Jacqui Newell
|
> ==========================================================================
>
> On Sun, 11 May 1997, Alain Vervais wrote:
>
> > My cat fell/jumped from the mezzanine down to a hardwood floor (inside
> > my house) many times (I've seen him do it 3 times). It is about a 13
> > feet jump since he does it from the top of the ramp. He doesn't seem to
> > mind it besides shaking his head a few times upon landing!
>
There was a really great English documentary on the TV a couple of
months ago here in NZ. They explained that cats shake their heads on
landing after a jump to balance the fluid in their ears again. Just
thought I'd share this small bit of information with you.
Good luck to both Elizabeth and Alain on your cats jumping habits. I'm
glad to see everything worked out ok.
Jacqui
D Truly
Just thought I'd add an anecdote - years ago my brother and I noticed a
cat perched on the very top of a 20 foot+ telephone pole. We stopped to
see if we could help it. As we neared the pole, the cat was frightened
and jumped! We both thought it was a goner. As I recall it, too, shook
it's head and ran off unharmed
--
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