Close Call!

[Sheryl]

The angel shown in my avatar fell off 3rd floor balcony onto rock hard pavement

She lay there like a flattened pancake until she heard me calling and which point she got right up and came running like nothing had happened.

She seems to have come through it with no more than a possible slight sprain according to Vet who did pretty through exam and Xrays.

It's been more than 48 hours and other than some signs of occasional pain (presumably due to the suspected sprain) seems fine, eating, drinking, playing, walking about etc

I on the other hand am a guilt-ridden nervous wreck petrified that she'll have a slow cerebral bleed (i keep checking her pupils etc) since witnesses said that altho she landed on her feet, one side of her head hit the pavement

Amazing that she could fall that far and suffer no damage. While at the Vet I saw another cat that had fallen 5 stories and had multiple fractures

Needless to say balcony now OFF LIMITs to this cat for every more.!

[patklang]

Only got 8 lives left sheryl,glad the pussycat is ok.

[TheWalkingMan]

That Darn Cat

Glad all is well.

TheWalkingMan

[angiud]

Hope you cat feel good!

Many years ago my cat fell off from my 4th floor balcony in the concrete garage floor.

I found her there crying and shocked, but nothing broken, only scared!!

My cats

[Rimmer]

I was once in a position to see my cat from above during a fall and how it reacted during the fall. The cat awoke from a deep sleep suddenly in a state of shock and jumped through the balcony railings to the floor below, I could do nothing but watch it from above and what I saw was pretty amazing

The cat as soon as it felt itself falling stuck out all four legs and seemed to grow a web rather like a flying fox between it's body and legs, as the fall slowed the body wobbled slightly rather like a piece of paper floating down then it landed on all fours under perfect control. The fall was not a fall at all more a controlled flight with a hard landing.

I have since read and it is well documented that cats can survive falls from great heights, I was lucky to be able to see how they do it at close quarters.

Edited January 28, 2009 by Rimmer

[neverdie]

Did she fall, or was she pushed???

[Gary A]

I lived in a forth story apartment in Bangkok. There was a quite ragged and scarred but tough tom cat that apparently lived on the roofs of the surrounding buildings. I started putting food out and it was always gone the next day. Since there were very few mosquitoes in the area, I always left the balcony door open. Every week this cat tamed a little more. I was finally able to pet him. He was all hard muscle. One day another big tom cat came around and there was a terrible fight. Both fell off the next balcony all the way to the ground. I heard the thump but by the time I got down to ground level both cats were gone. The next day he showed up like nothing had happened.

[sbk]

Glad to hear your kitty is ok, Sheryl.

There are some great photos out there about how cats twist when they fall.

here is one i found with a quick google:

[Sheryl]

Thanks for the photos sbk. Amazing!

But I am glad I did not see this myself, I think I would have had a coronary well before the cat hit the ground

She woke me up this morning at 4 AM demanding to be let out on the balcony. Fat Chance. For all I know this was life #8 not #1 that she just spent....

Your cats are gorgeous, Angiud. Is the last one a Khaio Manee (White Oriental)?

[desi]

When my cat was mostly full-grown but still had her ungainly baby belly, she fell from the balcony seven floors up. I'm guessing she went to grab for a bird, unbalanced, then off she went.

I don't allow my cats loose on the balcony but she'd slipped through a design flaw in the sliding doors (there were no stops so the doors would look like they were closed but were open at one end or the other).

Didn't find her that day. Then the next, one of the condo security guys came to get me. He'd found her in shock, hiding in the tool shed.

Besides the wildness in her eyes from her night out on the town, the only thing I noticed was white paint on her chin. So I guess when she hit the ground she came in contact with one of the flower pots dotting the area.

Silly cat.

[toptuan]

My next door neighbor has 20 cats, and lets them run roughshod over the neighborhood--eating our tropical fish from our lotus basins, $hitting on our doorsteps, and killing nearly all our visiting birds.

Last night I heard one of their cats climbing up the sturdy vines which go from ground level to my bedroom window. Presumably after a bird. About halfway up the window, I heard a mad scramble, the sound of claws madly scraping my window, a "meow" that sounded more like "whoops!", and then silence.

Went out to inspect the next morning, but darn, the 9-lived creature also made a clean getaway. I regret I live on only the ground floor.

Granted, my complaint is really about irresponsible owners, not their cats.

Edited February 1, 2009 by toptuan

[bigmove]

Good thing nothing happens to your cat sheryl. My cat also loves to sit in the balcony for hours and also afraid same case will happen to him. He is really fat and don't know if he can take such fall with those flabby belly. I know he loves the balcony but for safety reasons better I not let him sit there or just let him when I'm there.

BM

[patklang]

My next door neighbor has 20 cats, and lets them run roughshod over the neighborhood--eating our tropical fish from our lotus basins, $hitting on our doorsteps, and killing nearly all our visiting birds.

Last night I heard one of their cats climbing up the sturdy vines which go from ground level to my bedroom window. Presumably after a bird. About halfway up the window, I heard a mad scramble, the sound of claws madly scraping my window, a "meow" that sounded more like "whoops!", and then silence.

Went out to inspect the next morning, but darn, the 9-lived creature also made a clean getaway. I regret I live on only the ground floor.

Granted, my complaint is really about irresponsible owners, not their cats.

very unusal for cats to shit everywhere,thats normaly dogs.Maybe theowner hasnt trained them with cat litter.

[desi]

very unusual for cats to shit everywhere, that's normally dogs. Maybe the owner hasn't trained them with cat litter.

Do you train your dogs to poo inside?

Dog litter... what a market that would be.

I miss having an outside access for cats...