# Stormy fell 15 feet



## shlanon (Oct 16, 2003)

I took the cats to my parent's house this weekend. The house is two story and Stormy is always jumping onto the banister railing on the second floor that keeps you from falling onto the stairs below. The top of railing is pretty narrow and the wood is slick. I have always hated that she would jump up there and balance herself but I couldn't ever really stop her from doing it. 
Well, my fears were realized on Saturday. I was about 5 feet away from her, when I saw her jump up there and slip off. She fell I am guessing, about 15 feet onto the bottom of the stairs below. She was lucky she fell onto the carpeted stairs and not onto the very bottom wooden stair or the marble floor. As soon as she hit, she ran off into the dining room. I totally freaked out and saw soon that she was okay...no limping and I felt all over her body without her meowing at all.
I am hoping that maybe this scared her and she won't jump up there anymore...you think? I was so scared that she was going to be hurt.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Prettty scary when it happens, but if they can land on a smooth surface on their feet, they can survive some pretty high falls, and they are pretty good about landing on their feet. Glad to hear kitty's OK.


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## BoscosMum (Apr 29, 2004)

I think I would have p 8O ped my pants!


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

You make me laugh, Dawn!!








You sure have some ingeneous ways of defeating the auto-censor using our Mr. G 8O gle-eyes.


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## jennifer2 (Mar 5, 2005)

Oh man how scary!! 8O 

Keep an eye on her for a while to make sure no limps show up!

Jennifer


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## DesnBaby (Apr 18, 2004)

Poor baby! 8O  I'm glad she is ok  .


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## m_brane (Jan 21, 2005)

I've seen Scuba, my 17lb Maine **** mix, leaped off the second story window (15 feet) to grass with no harm--he just decided to take the quick way down one time. He is a strong cat, though. Terminal velocity and force of impact for small animal is not so high as for us human so a strong spry cat should be able to handle such a 'jump' once in a while--should not make it a habit, though.


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## Feral Fan (Feb 9, 2005)

Glad she is OK!!!

I understand the heart stopping when you see that though. A couple years ago I saw my neighbor's cat Snowball fall a GOOD 15 to maybe even 18 feet out of a tall tree on her side onto the pavement! 8O 

I was in tears and so so worried for the poor thing! Turned out she was just fine, just a little spooked... grrrrr darn neighbors though! Letting their kitties run around outside when they aren't home making me worry about them!


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## Crickit (Mar 7, 2005)

Here's a story... Crickit goes outside only when we're out, and she's great about staying in the yard. Well, one day we were out and my nephew brought his dog, not knowing the cat was out! (Long story, I'll try to shorten it). The dog chased Crickit and she was so shocked she ran up an old pine tree in our yard, even with her trimmed claws, never was up a tree before. We tried to reach her with a ladder, that just spooked her more, and she kept climbing! She was at least 30 feet up, and I was devastated! NO ONE in our area will rescue a cat, and it was even too high for the critter control people. No one would help. Everyone just said, "Give her time, she'll come down or FALL down, and they ALWAYS land on their feet!". I told them even if she'd land on her feet, a 30 ft. fall would kill her! I never felt so hopeless. Well, we hovered under that tree for a couple of hours, and put furniture cushions under where she was, prepared to catch her if she fell, but the one time we were away (going thru the phone book for more possibilities), we heard a crash and cracking of branches all the way down! Before we could run a couple of feet, here she was running to the door! The tree had brittle branches, and I bet she hit the cushions, so she was fine! The only injury were 2 bleeding claws, she had actually ripped them OUT on her scramble up the tree! I cleaned them, and she never acted like they bothered her. I figured the claws were gone, but they grew back! So a happy ending, I just hope it never happens again!
Nanci


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## Bean (Mar 10, 2003)

It is very scarey... I have no idea how they're so resilient.

When Julia jumped off my balconey 3 floors up I almost pooed myself, but she came out unscathed.


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## Lynda J (Sep 8, 2004)

Had a cat years ago that would jump out the second story window to the ground. At least 20 feet. Have had cats that jumped from the hay floor in the barn to the ground. Just keep an eye on her. Did she land on her feet? Cats body structure is designed to cushion them when landing.


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## shlanon (Oct 16, 2003)

I think she landed on her feet. It all happened really fast. She was sort of vertical when she fell.
I read a story in my hometown newspaper about a cat that was up in a tree for over two weeks! 8O They couldn't get her down and it was in some woods so the fire department couldn't come rescue her. Thankfully she is okay and is being nursed back to health.
I rescued Stormy from trees twice. The second time she had to stay up there overnight till I could get here and I ended up having to go up about 30 feet, first on a ladder and then climbing the tree.


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