Cats & Balconies

[jcat]

Well I was never a cat person, always busy in my job or businesses, so not really much time to have a pet. A year ago my girlfriend moved in with me, and brought in two cats, after a few months I have to admit, I really got to love these beautiful animals. But then, the worst mistake I could ever made, we moved in this new building, my apartment is in the 10th floor, I love my new house but I was always concerned about the cats and the balcony. Yesterday I was in such hurry I left the balcony door half way open, I went out, did I had to and on the way back, stopped by my girlfriends job to give her a ride home. When we get there, one of the cats was missing... Oh my Gosh, the door is opened I said. Yes my friends, my cat fell off the 10th floor, I found her   ... poor thing must have still been alive because it seems like she crawled to a corner. Oh my God I have screwed up before in my life, but this time... I cant even remember, how could I leave the door open, that was a priority before leaving the house everyday.... ****... My girlfriend has cried all night I wont dare to tell her, the cat probably survived the fall.....

My friends, do not let your cats in the balcony...

RIP Lua.

I'm really sorry to hear about Lua. Unfortunately, the same thing has happened to far too many cats. Our balcony is secured with netting, and we just redid the whole thing a couple of weeks ago because we now have a young cat that leaps before he looks. We replaced the poles, which were over 13 years old. The net has to be replaced about every 5 years. He's not allowed out there when nobody is home, and we check on him to make sure he's not getting himself in trouble out there.

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[barbb]

Jcat that is awesome,

 

[hudsonbay]

Studies have shown that an out of control fall of a story or two is more likely to hurt a cat, because they might not have successfully oriented to the ground to land on their feet / not land awkwardly, but that most cats falling for up to something like 7 stories are OK... they also may slow or limit their fall speed their falls by spreading legs and "parachuting" somewhat. To be clear, at least the best known study ( if not all) was a study of vet records, not some heartless researcher tossing cats from various heights. As might be expected, more and worse injuries were observed when landing on pavement.

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index...m-any-height-with-a-remarkable-survival-rate/

None the less, I submit a great risk exists whenever any cat gets out, whether from a "secure" balcony or otherwise, especially when the owner doesn't see it happen and immediately rush to retrieve puss. Now the poor thing is exposed to predators, cruel people, traffic, disease, pests, poisons, territorial ferals, etc etc.

 

[mani]

Hi @hudsonbay and welcome to TCS!

Interesting article - the thread is a couple of years old though.

Maybe you would like to come and introduce yourself and your cats in New Cats on the Block?

 

[sugafoot]

I recently under estimated a pregnant stray cat. Tried to take her in and she jumped off my second floor balcony. She was okay and I pray her litter is too. I made some construction adjustments and will try to get her again today

 

[Babypaws]

I fully agree with everyone….no balconies etc for cats…I won’t even open my windows too far (they have screens) because I’m afraid if I wasn’t around they would see birds and scratch holes in the screens and get out…windows are only opened about 4 inches. I always tell myself, I’m cursed with the “what if” syndrome but then that’s not a bad thing either.

 

[VioletReaver]

We live on the fifth floor and cat-proofed our balcony pretty easily! We used bird netting, attached to the frame of the balcony opening with a wire and eye hooks every 18in, and secured the netting to a 3/4in wooden dowel as we couldn't secure it directly to the floor (the floor is concrete). Took about an hour for the entire project.

If you can't drill in or have a rooftop patio, my friend had great success using PVC pipe to build a frame for the netting and securing the pip to the existing railing.

We also started with short supervised visits and hissed/corrected our cat whenever she tried to tug on or push at the netting. She learned pretty quick not to mess with it.

It's now her favorite spot. She loves sitting near the edge and just enjoying the breeze.