kitten falling

Last night our kitten fell about 20 feet from an upsairs landing. He
limped a bit, seemed to register pain when I touched his side, but
after a nap of 2 hours, seemed to be fine..He chased a laser dot for
about 10 minutes, ate and walked with no limp.

I picked him up and he didn't register the pain as he did earlier
(hissing, growling and wincing.

Could he have rebounded competely just with a nap? any other
expereicnes like this?

Ken

Yes, my cat did this when he was a kitten. He was so eager to follow me, he
fell off of the landing of the steps. He was fine.
Gail
"ken" wrote in message
oups.com...
Last night our kitten fell about 20 feet from an upsairs landing. He
limped a bit, seemed to register pain when I touched his side, but
after a nap of 2 hours, seemed to be fine..He chased a laser dot for
about 10 minutes, ate and walked with no limp.

I picked him up and he didn't register the pain as he did earlier
(hissing, growling and wincing.

Could he have rebounded competely just with a nap? any other
expereicnes like this?

Ken

"ken" wrote in message
oups.com...
Last night our kitten fell about 20 feet from an upsairs landing. He
limped a bit, seemed to register pain when I touched his side, but
after a nap of 2 hours, seemed to be fine..He chased a laser dot for
about 10 minutes, ate and walked with no limp.

I picked him up and he didn't register the pain as he did earlier
(hissing, growling and wincing.

Could he have rebounded competely just with a nap? any other
expereicnes like this?

Ken

Might be a good idea to take him to a vet just to check.
I had one cat fall off a second step onto pavement (a
very short distance) and fractured a bone in her hind
leg. Another cat fell out of a third story apartment
building onto grass, and had no ill effects.

Gail

In article ,
"Gail Futoran" wrote:

"ken" wrote in message
oups.com...
Last night our kitten fell about 20 feet from an upsairs landing. He
limped a bit, seemed to register pain when I touched his side, but
after a nap of 2 hours, seemed to be fine..He chased a laser dot for
about 10 minutes, ate and walked with no limp.

I picked him up and he didn't register the pain as he did earlier
(hissing, growling and wincing.

Could he have rebounded competely just with a nap? any other
expereicnes like this?

Ken

Might be a good idea to take him to a vet just to check.
I had one cat fall off a second step onto pavement (a
very short distance) and fractured a bone in her hind
leg. Another cat fell out of a third story apartment
building onto grass, and had no ill effects.

Ah, the kitten didn't fall far enough. Seriously. There have been
studies done, and cats instinctively twist themselves around in the air
so they'll land on their feet. But there has to be sufficient distance
to their fall to allow them the time to do so. (Slow-mo film of a cat
twisting around in the air is fascinating. They have a *very* flexible
spine.)

My first cat, Sinbad, was (before he adopted me) a stray who was once
thrown out of a third floor window. He probably would have been all
right except that he struck the shoulder of a woman standing on the
sidewalk under the window and bounced off. He broke his leg as he hit
the ground. I learned this story when I investigated around the
neighborhood following an xray at the time of his neutering. I'd
requested the xray to see why he held one of his front legs funny when
he sat. The vet confirmed an old break which had healed without being
set. Apparently he'd dragged himself off into the back alleys to
recover.

That was one fine cat of very strong personality. He moved in through
my bedroom window and took me for his person. What a good cat he was.
:-) Long gone now, but very much not forgotten.

Now, what were we talking about? ;-)

Priscilla

--
"It is very, very dangerous to treat any human, lowest
of the low even, with contempt and arrogant whatever.
The Lord takes this kind of treatment very, very personal."
- QBaal in newsgroup alt.religion.christian.episcopal

On Sat, 08 Jan 2005 21:00:22 GMT, all of a sudden, "Gail Futoran"
exclaimed:

"ken" wrote in message
roups.com...
Last night our kitten fell about 20 feet from an upsairs landing. He
limped a bit, seemed to register pain when I touched his side, but
after a nap of 2 hours, seemed to be fine..He chased a laser dot for
about 10 minutes, ate and walked with no limp.

I picked him up and he didn't register the pain as he did earlier
(hissing, growling and wincing.

Could he have rebounded competely just with a nap? any other
expereicnes like this?

Ken

Might be a good idea to take him to a vet just to check.
I had one cat fall off a second step onto pavement (a
very short distance) and fractured a bone in her hind
leg. Another cat fell out of a third story apartment
building onto grass, and had no ill effects.

Gail


I'd second this. When Meep went in to get spayed, she evidenced
abnormal kidney function on the blood test, but normal on one taken a
few weeks later. Vet asked about possible injuries; we remembered
that one of the bikes under the open stairs had fallen; at the time we
just thought it was gravity, but after that we realized she'd probably
fallen through the open stairs while playing, and landed on one of the
bikes (ouch!). She never showed any signs of injury though.
Fortunately there were no lasting effects, and she didn't need
treatment.

It's important to remember that cats instinctively hide injury, so he
could be hurt even without any outward signs.



jmc
usenet [at] jodi [dit] ws
Any day you learn something isn't a total waste.

SNIP
Another issue is terminal velocity, which basically means the fastest
speed you can go when falling. Apparently, when cats are falling fast
enough, they will relax and they land more likeee a sponge, absorbing
the impact, rather than breaking their bones with a stiff landing.

It's kind of the same reason that drunks have less injuries in car
crashes. They are more relaxed.

I saw some amazing footage that proves this theorey. Terminal velocity is
9.8 meters per sec/ squared, untill wind resistance stabilizes your speed.
Once cats reach it, they DO relax & injuries are minimal. Apparently there
are more cats injured from sub 50 ft falls than extereme hights (multi story
stuff).... Now if only we could figure out how to do that....?
--
Meghan & the Zoo Crew
Equine and Pet Photography
http://www.zoocrewphoto.com
--
Mathew
Butler to 2 kittens: Chablis & Muscat
En Vino Veritas