Lucky Cat

[robert551069]

When I was six years old, I lived with my parents on the twelfth floor of a block of flats in Southwark, London.
Our cat was fed daily on horsemeat from a vendor who used to call out loudly "Cat's meat".
Every day she got wildly excited by his voice and one warm day in summer the window was open. She leapt onto the window sill and fell to the ground.
We took the lift down as quickly as possible and were relieved to find her affectionately rubbing up against the leg of the vendor with her tail in the air.
Luckily, she had a life left to save her that day.
Needless to say the window was kept shut every day at cat's meat time after that.

[ladybirder]

12 floors? What an amazing story robert. She was a very lucky girl.

[wolf63]

I know that it is something to do with terminal velocity - there is no way that I understand physics enough to explain it to you.

Cat falling from the bottom few floors of a building cat hurt themselves quite badly. Cats that fall from about 5 storeys to about 13/15 storeys are usually only slightly injured.

Cats are amazing animals - which makes me wonder what species the ball of fur lying on my arms. Most mornings she awakens with a 'eek' and then rolls off her bed onto the floor two foot below, she 'eeks' again then sprints to the litter tray.

I am glad that I missed out on the horse meat - neigh way am I eating that!!

[Frank97]

From Wikipedia

Terminal velocity

In addition to the righting reflex cats have a number of other features that will reduce damage from a fall. Their small size, light bone structure, and thick fur decrease their terminal velocity. Furthermore, once righted they may also spread out their body to increase drag and slow the fall to some extent.[6] A falling cat's terminal velocity is 100 km/h (60 mph) whereas that of a falling man in a "free fall position" is 210 km/h (130 mph). At terminal velocity they also relax as they fall which protects them to some extent on impact. However, it has been argued that, after having reached terminal velocity, cats would orient their limbs horizontally such that their body hits the ground first.[7]

[edit] Injury

With their righting reflex theory, cats often land uninjured. However, this is not always the case, since cats can still break bones or die from extreme falls. In a 1987 study, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, of 132 cats that were brought into the New York Animal Medical Center after having fallen from buildings, it was found that the injuries per cat increased depending on the height fallen up to seven stories but decreased above seven stories.[8] The study authors speculated that after falling five stories the cats reached terminal velocity and thereafter relaxed and spread their bodies to increase drag. However, an alternative interpretation which came out of internet chat[8] of the study would be that upon an excess of seven stories the cats experience a higher fatality rate which precludes the owner from bringing them in for medical attention. Although scientists in Massachusetts have recently discovered that the cat's ability to spread its legs out to increase drag when reaching terminal velocity would explain the decreased injuries sustained above seven stories because they wouldn't reach terminal velocity before then. Professor David Stevenson said "we simulated the cat's weight and size and found the terminal velocity to be 60mph which would more than likely result in severe injury or death to the cat when falling from this speed, but once we took into account the cat's ability to right its self and spread its body out this reduced the terminal velocity to only 53mph. This 7mph difference is massive and would almost certainly ensure the cat's survival. There however is always the possibility that the cat may not manage to right itself so this is far from a conclusive experiment and we do not condone the throwing of cats from anything."

[Frank97]

Wrong thread!

[ummmm]

Right thread! :-)

[B00]

What happens if you tape buttered toast to the cat before it fell?

[rowanwitch]

the toast increases spin and the cat falls toast side down..

[Nibble]

But if you spread the toast with a marmalade side http://www.themarmaladecat.co.uk/

would this tandem slow the descent??

[rowanwitch]

honey might due to its stickiness

[pastafreak]

My deaf Caspar fell from a 3rd floor window twice when I first had him-I think he got excited by birds...and I had forgotten to close the window (baaad mum :-(( )
The first time,he spent the day hiding in the hedges until I got home and found him. The second time someone took him to a vet miles away-I think his chin was bruised-that was about it.
Nothing compared to robert's tale.