# Kitten jump/fall off second story of my house?



## wthenne

Hello everybody.
I have a two story house and there is open railing where the kitten could jump/fall through to the first floor which has hard wood floor. Should I be worried about the kitten jumping off? If she accidentally fell from the second floor to the first, would she be injurred? I have heard that cats most of the time land on their feet but I heard that the further the distance of the fall the better because they have time to position themeselves. She will almost be 14 weeks. She is very agile but often clumsy (always falls off the bed) so I am a little worried. She has peered over before but I am not sure if she would actually have the guts to jump. Any advice or personal experiences with similar situations would be greatly appreciated! Thank you everyone!


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## OctoberinMaine

I think I'd be tempted to run a piece of some type of wrought iron fencing along the bottom couple feet of the railing, just to make sure she doesn't fall down. We had the same problem on our deck, and ended up using some stuff called deer fencing (picture below) to block off an area where Murphy might be tempted to jump. I'm sure there must be something better looking than that, though!


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## Nan

If it's just a loft, I wouldn't worry about it. My cat Sophie used to run up the stair railing, jump up on the loft railing and stop to play with her tail.

Here she was, being a daredevil (that's the bottom of a drawing desk in back of her) pic taken from my living room looking up. She never tried jumping down except to the loft level.


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## jusjim

When I brought adult, ten year old, Zenobi (otb) home she loved my second storey balcony. Then a few days later she disappeared, I looked over the edge and there she was on the ground. I hurried downstairs to see if she was OK.

She wandered in a bit dazed and looked up at me as if to say what kept you. I put up some wire fencing lashed to the railings. What I think happened is that she saw something, an insect, a bird, another cat, and over-reached trying to get at it.

Maybe she was just lucky with her fall, but I suggest taking precautions. Most cats do land on their feet, and cats spread out a bit like a blanket, which no doubt slows a descent, however, everything in life does not always happen the same way, and your if kitten happens to fall the wrong way....


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## RachandNito

Jusjim is right. Cats do land on their feet, and have been known to fall great distances and miraculously be just fine. But this isn't always the case- all cats are different. My sister's cat fell 20 feet from a tree, and was laying down and refusing to walk and acting like he was in great pain. They took him to the vet and he popped up, walking around the exam room and purring and acting cute. They did xrays and with all the money spent, he was just fine. He wouldn't even take his pain meds. 300 bucks for nothing, silly cat!!

And then my other cat jumped from the top of his cat tree (5 feet), landed weird, and had a limp for a couple days. Xrays revealed nothing and the vet called it a sprain. Just goes to show- its not always the height, but a combination of height and landing.

How far of a drop is it to the first floor? Kittens tend to be very bouncy and resilient, so I wouldn't be overly concerned. Just be aware, and discourage the kitten from playing around too close to the edge.. I also have a place where my cats could jump from the top of the stairs railing to the first floor. They like to peek through but have never tried it.


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## dweamgoil

When I adopted my cats from the ASPCA, they gave me this information:

ASPCA | High-Rise Syndrome

I would secure the area if it were me. I would not want my cat to injure itself or have free access to explore about without my supervision. At best, you could lose your cat and someone else find it and take it in. At worse, the cat could fatally injure itself or rack up really steep vet bills because the railing wasn't kitten proofed . I would rather err on the side of caution.


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## MowMow

I live on the third floor and have a balcony Mow loves to hang out on. The problem was that he'd put his paws on the outside of the fence and lean wwwaaaayyyyyyy over to look at the balcony below me. It freaked me out so I picked up some fruit tree netting (the kind to keep birds from eating the fruit). The holes are big enough for him to see through but he can't fall off.

I secured it with fishing line (invisible) and wove the net in and out of the bars all the way around. Mine looks fine because it's outside and it blends in with the black metal railing. You might be able to find something more attractivefor inside and do the same deal.


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