Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2023 August 12

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August 12

Cat jumping from 6 ft onto very hard surface

Hi everyone. I feed a cat in my alley pretty much every morning. When he sees me, he just can't be bothered to descend down the tree he uses to ascend back to his yard, instead electing to leap down. The wall of the yard is just shy of 6 feet high, however the landing surface is literally made of stone (albeit very smooth yet not slippery), and I'm terribly worried that he'll accumulate bad long-term joint damage in best case scenario, with obvious dangers of fractures, twists and so forth every time he jumps. He's young, healthy, spayed, all good stuff, but I keep worrying... for a reason? He lets a little yelp out almost every time he jumps, looks absolutely fine immediately afterwards, but I feel as if something should be done, yeah? Took him down myself a few times, doesn't really like it. Can't really place a mat or a pillow, it'll get taken away in no time. Splićanin (talk) 07:38, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

I don't understand why you're feeding somebody else's cat? Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:54, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

It might be an alley cat.  --Lambiam 08:34, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

He is an alley cat. There are several others in the colony and several other people look after them. Splićanin (talk) 11:55, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

Hey, does anyone else remember a study a few years ago, where scientists attached GoPros to pet cats, to see what they got up to during the day? I seem to remember that a large number of them just used to go from house to house, hitting up kind humans for food - far more than they were chasing birds and mice. Iloveparrots (talk) 14:48, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

Yes, it was a UK study, (or at least the one I am familiar with was; similar efforts may well have been attempted elsewhere) although the term might exaggerate the nature of the project a little. Anyway, they made a small documentary based on their footage; I'll try to recall the name to link it here. (Edit: couldn't find it, but did find this quite similar documentary based on a german study). Anyway, as someone who has done a great deal of rescue and re-homing work over the years, I can tell you these habits have long been well known to experts and owners alike, although the people of some cats would undoubtedly be shocked by just how brazen, frequent, and shameless their multiple household exploitation truly is.

The habits do tend to vary by a surprising number of factors, though. For example, cats raised indoors are less likely to roam even if they become indoor-outdoor, than are cats born or substantially raised outside. Another interesting thing that study/documentary related that is true to my own observations is that roaming seems to be more about patrolling the boundaries of the cat's perceived territory than any other perceived objective.

But, in a manner that is both half paradoxical and yet makes sense the further you ponder it, the cats in that study were less likely to roam if they came from multiple cat homes, especially with a kin group. Again, this matches what I have seen with larger groups of socialized or semi-socialized domestic cats. It might be confusing at first: afterall, wouldn't crowded cats spread out farther in order to eek out their territories. My suspicion having seen this play out many times is that these cats (that socialize around a large colony or home that accommodate more than a couple of cats) have their territorialism somewhat suppressed as an epigenetic matter in order to allow them to acclimate to life in a larger colony without constant stress.

In any event, all bets are absolutely off when it comes to in-tact males: a non-neutered male allowed access to the outdoors will roam upon reaching sexual maturity, period. And they will be far less likely to peacefully co-exist and drop their territorial tendencies. As will non-spayed females to a lesser extent. And even altered individuals will continue these habits to some extent if they reached full maturity before being fixed. These are more mating behaviours though: distinct from the hunting, human-assisted-foraging, territory patrolling and just general genuine wanderlust that seem to drive even spayed/neutered individuals. SnowRise ^{let's rap} 07:25, 16 August 2023 (UTC)

A young and healthy cat can even jump up that height. If not overly fat it can jump down that height without getting hurt if the jump is planned; cats are built for that and will hesitate if the landing is problematic.  --Lambiam 08:55, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

Our high-rise syndrome article suggests that its only a problem for a cat for falls of over 20 feet. Cats have survived falls from 32 storeys (over 300 feet?). See also cat righting reflex. Alansplodge (talk) 11:50, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

I did. Obviously once in a while is no problem, was worried about doing the 6ft all the time. Splićanin (talk) 11:55, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

If repeated jump damage the cat, it will begin to hurt after some time. When that happens, I suspect the cat will find some different strategy. Cats are pretty small animals. That helps when handling decelerations. Their terminal velocity is also much lower than for humans, but when falling 2 metres, they get nowhere near terminal velocity. PiusImpavidus (talk) 11:10, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

Have faith in evolution's engineering. Cats bodies have evolved for this, and so did cat's judgement as to what is safe. Also, you can place some soft landing for him to both make it safer and quell your fears. Zarnivop (talk) 13:02, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

Evolution is not an engineering process that it's appropriate to have faith in, and in particular, does not operate purposefully to produce a particular result. --142.112.221.64 (talk) 23:58, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

Yes, but from an engineering standpoint, felines are vastly superior to humans. Fortunately for us, they never developed opposable thumbs. -- 136.54.106.120 (talk) 01:58, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

Nor did they develop our brains, ability to walk on hind legs, trichromatic vision, stamina (on long distance runs, humans can easily beat cats – in fact, humans can beat most animals on long distance runs), ability to swim, ability to throw and flexibility of food source, to mention just a few. But cats are much better adapted to their own niche than humans are to the cat's niche; in that way they're vastly superior. PiusImpavidus (talk) 11:10, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

It's a paraphrase. Zarnivop (talk) 06:59, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

I've jumped down from more than six feet onto earth and though it was a very nasty jolt I didn't injure myself, however I decided it was a bad idea! Cats are much lighter. I believe a parachute landing is equivalent to about a 9 to 12 foot fall and they are taught how to land properly rather than on their feet llike I did. I don't fancy it! NadVolum (talk) 15:29, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

If you want to help the cat, instead of a soft surface for it to land on, provide a higher intermediate surface -- a shelf or small table of some sort, or even a chair. Then it can make two smaller jumps instead of one long one. -- Avocado (talk) 22:18, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

Good idea! Now you're thinking like a cat. --142.112.221.64 (talk) 05:54, 14 August 2023 (UTC)

Can't provide intermediate surface, the yard is private property, could be considered a security concern for tenants as humans too would find it easier to scale the wall. Splićanin (talk) 05:47, 15 August 2023 (UTC)