Do cats fall off balconies?

Cat falling 40 feet from tree to a lawn. He was unharmed.

Do cats fall off balconies? Yes, they do. Cat owners think that cats will always be smart enough and athletic enough to never fall from a balcony. They are smart and great climbers but they make mistakes like the rest of us. The kind of mistake might be incorrectly assessing the rigidity of an object on the balcony. It gives way and the cat falls.

Many broken bones are caused by falls. The most common in warmer weather are falls from apartment windows that have a screen and the cat pushes the screen open thinking that it is fixed. It gives way and the cat falls.

The severity of the injury suffered depends partly on the height of the fall. Paradoxically, the higher the fall (to a limit), the lesser the injury as the cat has time to right himself and then get into a gliding position like a flying squirrel. This slows the descent (see photo above).

Bones broken as a result of a fall from a good height are:

• femur
• pelvis
• jaw
• spine (less frequent)
• skull (less frequent)

Blind cat on open roof top.

Often, there is shock and blood loss and internal organ injuries. Cats injured in a fall might be in pain - handle with care and immobilize the cat before taking to the vet.

Cats should not be allowed out on a balcony without a careful assessment of its safety for a cat. A balcony cat enclosure is nice!

I remember seeing a blind cat on a flat roof in Malta. The roof had no edges, just a straight fall. He had fallen once and survived. See the photo. He had great hearing.

Cat Broken Leg

I would like to speculate about "the cat broken leg". There are many ways for a cat to break a leg. Perhaps the obvious way is to be hit by a car and survive.

However, there is one way for a cat to break a leg, the foreleg, that I am not sure has not been discussed but I think it has happened on many occasions.

In fact I think it might have happened to my three legged cat and I think it is the reason he has three legs.

You know how some cats like to follow you around very closely when you are feeding them. These cats also rub against your legs as you prepare the cat food bowl.

They are at your feet and very close to you. You have your back to them as you prepare the food. Unless you are aware of them you would not know they are there.

You turn to place the bowl on the ground and you inadvertently walk into your cat. You do so with some force and you make contact with his front leg. You trap the leg between your shoe and the floor and this force breaks the leg badly.

The leg is broken in several places and the vet decides that it has to be amputated. Your cat is frightened of you walking around in the kitchen thereafter.

I have no idea if this has happened to Charlie or any other cat. But knowing the behavior of some cats I feel that it must have happened sometimes.

[Note: I am aware of Charlie's behavior and make sure I avoid contact with him but his positioning etc. give me cause for concern.]



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