Is My Kitty Going To Roll Off Her Cat Shelf And Get Hurt?

[KarenKat]

so Olive is a daredevil. She climbs up on the cat furniture or the mantle and rolls around in bliss. She has rapturously rolled off when I was petting her once and I had to roll her back on. Also she once rolled off and clung precariously from the bookshelf and had to climb back up.

Should I worry that she will hurt herself falling? Is there any way to safeguard this? I thought about a shelf lip but I doubt it would be enough.

The pictures don’t show her writhiest moments but they are examples of where she gets in trouble.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

.
KarenKat - This is probably the best past thread on the subject her on TCS:

How High Is Too High For Jumping Down?

Spoiler: Smart-Aleck Spoiler

The smart-*** answer is, "are your book shelves over 1290 feet high?"



For Heaven's sake, though - don't let her read any of Frank Herbert's later Dune books; she could die of tedium.

 

[KarenKat]

Lol, thanks 1CatOverTheLine . And of course, she’s only 3 she is way too young for Dune. I was going to start her on some nice Narnia books and then work up to Lord if the Rings.

And I’ll still worry about random accidents but it’s nice to know that these kitties are resilient. Have any of your 11 fallen from on high?

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

Lol, thanks 1CatOverTheLine . And of course, she’s only 3 she is way too young for Dune. I was going to start her on some nice Narnia books and then work up to Lord if the Rings.

And I’ll still worry about random accidents but it’s nice to know that these kitties are resilient. Have any of your 11 fallen from on high?

KarenKat - Nope; I've never had that misfortune, thankfully.

I'd start her on Heinlein's The Cat Who Walked Through Walls; if she enjoys it, I'd try the Heinlein Juveniles on her - Rocket Ship Galileo, Space Cadet, Red Planet, Farmer in the Sky and cetera. Speaking of Farmer, she could move on to the Riverworld series then, and later on to Larry Niven's Ringworld stuff. Let her get a little older before she tries Alfie Bester and Roger Zelazny, though.


.

 

[danteshuman]

I would like to say she is safe if she isn't encouraged to play up there. My punk well he only focuses on the toy when playing. He falls off beds, jumps into coffee tables things like that. Yet he can sleep on top of my amoire with zero falling. So unless she falls on her own I would let it play out & hope she learned her lesson.

 

[KarenKat]

Ok, update: Olive totally rolled off the mantle yesterday I think she enjoys the texture (it's wood) and was writhing around and just writhed off. Even though it's not super high, she still managed to flip midair and landed on her feet . Missed the flat stone hearth entirely too. She looked mildly startled and walked away, somewhat shakily. Completely unharmed, and probably didn't learn any lasting lesson.

 

[Caspers Human]

I think it's more about having a safe landing spot than it is about height.

It's common to hear stories about cats falling from third floor windows and landing with little more than a few bumps or bruises. I don't think falling from the height of your bookshelf or mantle would be unduly treacherous for a cat in good health.

On the other hand, where the cat lands might make all the difference. Landing on a carpeted floor from the average height in a typical house, a cat would probably walk away with nothing hurt but it's pride. If the cat landed on hard furniture or something breakable like a table lamp or a ceramic vase, it would be a different story.

It's good to be concerned about your cat falling from her perch but I would advise making sure her potential landing spots are safer.

 

[maggiedemi]

If we pet Demi while he's up on the kitty highway, he will roll right off. I don't know why they do that, it's so scary. So I told everybody not to pet him while he's up there, he just isn't careful.

 

[KarenKat]

M maggiedemi - Lol, yeah we couldn't even look at Gohan at the last place, it caused him to roll off as well. The shelf was probably 10 feet high too. He rolled off onto an ottoman, bounced about 2 feet and then landed on the floor, tail poofed the biggest I have seen. He stood there a minute, receiving the adoration and concern of his non-fur family. Then he went and took a 3 hour nap .

Olive did this with no one petting her or looking at her. I think she is just clumsy.

Caspers Human - Agreed, unfortunately we are all hardwood floors in this house (and it's a rental, so we can't add in carpet). There aren't any breakables nearby, so I think we will have to trust to her kitty instincts.

 

[Caspers Human]

I think your kitty will be fine.

However, next time Walmart has a sale on throw pillows...

 

[susanm9006]

It sort of depends on whether she can hit anything hard on the way down. My first girl loved the space in top of the kitchen cabinets but rolled off and hit the stove edge a couple of times. When I remodeled my kitchens in my former and current homes, I selected cabinets that went all the way to the ceiling so there would be no more diving cats.