Cat in Danger on Balcony Ledge?

"Rockinghorse Winner" wrote in message
consulting...
Martha, my 5 year old domestic long hair mix likes to hang out on the
balcony, and specifically perched on the 4 inch ledge. The ledge she
prefers is over concrete, about 12 feet to the ground. She is not calm
while hanging out on the ledge, but restless, looking over the edge like
she
is planning to jump (there are many birds in the area).

First, will a cat put itself in danger by jumping from a height like this?
Second, is this dangerously high for a cat, i.e. can the fall kill or
injure her? She is not an athletic cat, but more of a lap cat. For now,
I
don't tolerate her jumping up on the ledge, and shoo her off as soon as I
see her jump on it. Am I being paranoid, or is this a real danger?

P.S. sorry for such a noob question, if you've heard it before.

The fall to concrete can very possibly hurt her.....I suggest you hang a net
partway down to catch her, or put an old mattress on the concrete below
where she hangs out. It won;' take much to break her fall and keep her from
getting hurt. Perhaps a planter with some bushes in it on the concrete
below?

Cshenk, do you know any suppliers of this netting stuff? This sounds like a
project even I can do! Many thanks.


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"Rockinghorse Winner" wrote

Cshenk, do you know any suppliers of this netting stuff? This sounds like
a
project even I can do! Many thanks.

Hundreds! Can you give me basic info on your location? No, not looking for
street address, but if you can tell me country and state that helps alot.
Nearest big city helps even more. Then I can look it up and tell you fairly
local places.

Here is a sample of one of the hundreds.

http://www.amazon.com/Deck-Shield-Ne.../dp/B000H3PGTK

That specific one isnt possibly long enough for your needs but you can get
the idea from it.

Here's an alternet (grin) http://tinyurl.com/256lm3l

That one is bigger and you'd cut it to shape.

I can walk you through it all but need to know more on your porch such as if
it is wood and has a roof and things like that.

Help me help you?

Addressing the subject in general...
Cats fall off of ledges all the time. My sister had a small cat or
kitten fall almost 3 stories without injury. Maybe it landed on thick
carpet grass. Recently, my feral female fell off of her new perch on
their skyway. Sounded like she landed flat, with a thump. For some
reason, cats just do not understand the hazard of hanging around on a
ledge far from the ground. I guess they relax too much, roll over,
and roll right off.

"John Doe" wrote in message
...
Addressing the subject in general...
Cats fall off of ledges all the time. My sister had a small cat or
kitten fall almost 3 stories without injury. Maybe it landed on thick
carpet grass. Recently, my feral female fell off of her new perch on
their skyway. Sounded like she landed flat, with a thump. For some
reason, cats just do not understand the hazard of hanging around on a
ledge far from the ground. I guess they relax too much, roll over,
and roll right off.

It's those little cat brains.

"John Doe" wrote in message
...
Addressing the subject in general...
Cats fall off of ledges all the time. My sister had a small cat or
kitten fall almost 3 stories without injury. Maybe it landed on thick
carpet grass. Recently, my feral female fell off of her new perch on
their skyway. Sounded like she landed flat, with a thump. For some
reason, cats just do not understand the hazard of hanging around on a
ledge far from the ground. I guess they relax too much, roll over,
and roll right off.

About 6 or 8 months ago they had a kitten on Animal Planet whose (*******)
owner had repeatedly thrown it out the window, where it had fallen three
stories onto concrete....It had so many broken bones that they had to put it
to sleep.