Can a fat cat injure themselves from a fall?

[TubbyBubby]

My kitty Pipurr is a bit overweight. She is 8 years old and her first owners overfed her to a whopping ~22lbs. With me right now she is 13.4lbs as of her yearly vet checkup this year but she could stand to lose another 1.5lbs or so. I got her a new cat tree today and she immediately took to the little baskets on it. She loves to sit up in cat trees. However, she has never been a great jumper. She sometimes scrabbles just to get onto my bed and it’s about 2 feet tall, maybe a few inches higher. The cat tree is 46” tall in the highest basket, which she was in. She has another tree and she is capable of climbing up to the 4th level in that one and it’s roughly the same height at that level as this new one, but to get down, she usually hops from level to level rather than just leaping off it straight to the floor. Well, even though there was a lower second basket level next to the one she was in in her new tree, for some reason she decided to jump all the way to the ground instead of taking it level by level. I have hardwood floors. She landed VERY heavily, on all fours at least, (far from graceful though) and then rocketed away to the other room to sit in her favorite bed. I carried her a few moments later back to my bed since it’s bedtime and she’s already asleep, but I am just worried that the jump was painful to her because of the extra weight on her joints. I can buy a small rug to put in front of the tree in case she does that again. I hope she doesn’t associate the new tree with that uncomfortable jump.

 

[Meowmee]

My kitty Pipurr is a bit overweight. She is 8 years old and her first owners overfed her to a whopping ~22lbs. With me right now she is 13.4lbs as of her yearly vet checkup this year but she could stand to lose another 1.5lbs or so. I got her a new cat tree today and she immediately took to the little baskets on it. She loves to sit up in cat trees. However, she has never been a great jumper. She sometimes scrabbles just to get onto my bed and it’s about 2 feet tall, maybe a few inches higher. The cat tree is 46” tall in the highest basket, which she was in. She has another tree and she is capable of climbing up to the 4th level in that one and it’s roughly the same height at that level as this new one, but to get down, she usually hops from level to level rather than just leaping off it straight to the floor. Well, even though there was a lower second basket level next to the one she was in in her new tree, for some reason she decided to jump all the way to the ground instead of taking it level by level. I have hardwood floors. She landed VERY heavily, on all fours at least, (far from graceful though) and then rocketed away to the other room to sit in her favorite bed. I carried her a few moments later back to my bed since it’s bedtime and she’s already asleep, but I am just worried that the jump was painful to her because of the extra weight on her joints. I can buy a small rug to put in front of the tree in case she does that again. I hope she doesn’t associate the new tree with that uncomfortable jump.

They can but probably not from a cat tree. But if you are worried consult dvm. My Byron used to jump from the top of the banister straight down and never hurt himself. He was the only one that did that. Zena jumps from the stairs under the banister and up. Lol.

 

[TubbyBubby]

She seems fine today, eating, walking around like normal. Phew…

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi - what kind of a diet did you put her on?

If you obtain a small rug, see if you can find double-stick rug tape so it doesn't move. You'll want one that's extra thick and padded, I've noticed some of these are too thin with no padding at all.

I'm the same way, I get nervous when they decide to jump from too high. You might talk to your vet about a joint supplement. There's one I use because Poppycat was finicky but I wanted to be able to add it to his food. This one is clean (doesn't have a lot of other ingredients), contains the three ingredients necessary for best absorption, and is a liquid that comes in unflavored or a couple of flavors by LiquidVet.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Yes. Skinny cats too ! One of my cats had a "bad paw" for a few days from a hard landing after jumping from the window onto the concrete. A‐0K in a week , but I watched to make sure. "

 

[TubbyBubby]

Hi - what kind of a diet did you put her on?

If you obtain a small rug, see if you can find double-stick rug tape so it doesn't move. You'll want one that's extra thick and padded, I've noticed some of these are too thin with no padding at all.

I'm the same way, I get nervous when they decide to jump from too high. You might talk to your vet about a joint supplement. There's one I use because Poppycat was finicky but I wanted to be able to add it to his food. This one is clean (doesn't have a lot of other ingredients), contains the three ingredients necessary for best absorption, and is a liquid that comes in unflavored or a couple of flavors by LiquidVet.

Good idea about the double sided tape (and the joint supplement, I’ll ask her vet)! Pipurr will eat anything (if allowed to). But I have her on a wet food only diet. She gets a few different brands on routine every week, including Soulistic chicken and pumpkin, Stella and Chewy human grade turkey, chicken, and salmon (all pate); and Ziwi cat chicken and lamb. The Ziwi is her favorite. I keep an eye on her treat intake as well (usually they are freeze dried raw snacks) because I’ve noticed in order for her to not gain weight that I have to keep her intake to slightly under 200 calories a day, usually around 190. Any more than that and she starts to balloon up again! It’s only gotten trickier as she has gotten older and her metabolism slows down.

 

[Furballsmom]

Let us know how things go

 

[Gizmobius]

Just from my experience, soreness/joint pain can absolutely happen from overweight kitties! My girl Stevie was almost 13lbs at one point and had a bit of a limp in one front leg after jumping off the counter. She's down to 11lbs as per her last vet visit and the limp disappeared. I was giving her Cosequin during her weight loss journey just to help her feel better moving.