How High Is Too High To Jump Down?

[rosegold]

I live in an apartment with stairs going up to a loft where the bed is. The loft has a low glass barrier along the edge (maybe 1-2 feet tall) so Chilli is usually happy to just sit up there and look through the glass. But sometimes when she’s hyper she will jump up there and walk along the top of the barrier. Maybe about once or twice a week. It scares me to death because the top is only a couple inches wide and it’s made of metal, so if she slipped I don’t think she could catch herself. From the top of the barrier to the floor below is 9 feet. She never has fallen/jumped yet that I know of, and we’ve been here since August, but I still tell her to get down if I see her up there since it makes me nervous. She’s very playful but I wouldn’t call her the most graceful cat in the world!

Anyway, I’m getting a new ~4 month old kitten in a few days and I’m worried about the kitten trying to get up there too. I tried to brainstorm about ways to block it off with fencing or something, but securing it is very difficult; the ceiling overlaps at one point making the sizes of gap different; wanting a long-term solution that isn’t ugly, etc... I thought about putting double sided tape or some other unpleasant surface to discourage Chilli and the kitten from going up there. Alternately, I thought about putting a strip of carpet up there so that if they slip they at least have something to grab onto.

So... first of all, is 9 feet a drop to be worried about? For Chilli, a young and medium-agile adult? And/or for the new 4mo kitten? If so, any creative ideas as to how can I keep them from hurting themselves? Or should I just monitor them, assume they won’t be stupid, and occasionally tell them to get down like I’ve done with Chilli?

 

[daftcat75]

9 feet should be fine. My 14 year old has made that jump from atop the kitchen cabinets that hug the ceiling. Scares the crap out of me. She’s none the worse for it. But cats are also remarkably agile. I don’t imagine you’ll see many slips.

Could you put up a shelf to break up the fall?

 

[Kflowers]

Are you measuring from the loft floor or the railing?

I put soft chairs and a large (a couple of feet in diameter) dog bed by the stairs in case SG falls off them. Any furniture you can position under the edge of the railing will break a fall. A four foot table would make the fall an easy one.

 

[rosegold]

Are you measuring from the loft floor or the railing?

From the top of the railing (where she jumps up and walks) to the ground floor.

I guess 9 feet isn’t that tall, but it sure looks like it is! Her cat tree is about 5 feet and she jumps down from that all the time, but it has carpet underneath whereas it’s wood floors below the loft. Unfortunately I can’t put anything substantial below it because there’s a hallway directly underneath. I thought about putting her cat tree in the corner, but I worried that would just encourage her to walk around up there, and that still wouldn’t break the fall for 3/4 of the railing. I might just put a big fluffy comforter and blankets or a dog bed down there temporarily until I can gauge whether the kitten is going to try to get up there.

I think I’ll also look into whether I can put some carpet-like material on the top to make it safer.

 

[daftcat75]

From the top of the railing (where she jumps up and walks) to the ground floor.

I guess 9 feet isn’t that tall, but it sure looks like it is! Her cat tree is about 5 feet and she jumps down from that all the time, but it has carpet underneath whereas it’s wood floors below the loft. Unfortunately I can’t put anything substantial below it because there’s a hallway directly underneath. I thought about putting her cat tree in the corner, but I worried that would just encourage her to walk around up there, and that still wouldn’t break the fall for 3/4 of the railing. I might just put a big fluffy comforter and blankets or a dog bed down there temporarily until I can gauge whether the kitten is going to try to get up there.

I think I’ll also look into whether I can put some carpet-like material on the top to make it safer.

I worry about a claw getting caught in the carpet on a slip and then she's either hanging from a claw or having it torn out. I think you should just trust her and let her learn her lessons. I don't think a 9 foot fall will be as tough as a stuck claw.

 

[rosegold]

I worry about a claw getting caught in the carpet on a slip and then she's either hanging from a claw or having it torn out. I think you should just trust her and let her learn her lessons. I don't think a 9 foot fall will be as tough as a stuck claw.

Oh, that’s a really good point. I didn’t think about that. Honestly if it were just Chilli I wouldn’t bother doing anything, but I’m worried about my new kitten. Perhaps just dog beds at the bottom are the way to go then.

 

[daftcat75]

I don’t know. Kittens are tough too. I think you’re over-worrying this. A pocket-sized kitten, yes, I think a dog bed would be good. But once the kitten gets to about half his/her adult size, I think it would be better to have bare floor for them to land so they land with firm footing. Because even though you’ve put a cushion to break their fall, instinct still tells them to land on their feet. The “give” in the dog bed could cause unequal landing pressure through each leg. Think about making that jump yourself. If you knew you were going to land on your feet or at least always try to land squarely on your feet, I think you’d want a flat surface to land on.

 

[daftcat75]

If they were just going to bounce on their butt, then yeah, a dog bed could be fun. But 9 feet is plenty of time for them to right themselves and stick that landing. Trying to stick that landing on an uneven surface might actually increase the chance of injury, rather than reduce it.

 

[rosegold]

daftcat75 Okay, thank you so much for the advice! I will be watchful but try not to worry too much.

 

[Purr-fect]

Yes I think a 9 foot drop is too much.

The cat will probably be ok, but not necessarily.

A couple of weeks ago our cat greg suddenly started limping very badly during the evening.

He had not been outside, he wasnt wrestling with his brother arnArnold. He just suddenly was in alot of pain. We had to take him to an emergency clinic after hours.

The vet said he thought greg had sprained his leg. I can only think it was from jumping out of his loft bed, which is just under 3 feet high. He has been doing that for years with no problems. But he is jumping on to slippery hardwood and perhaps his foot slid out from under him. We now have carpeted stairs to his loft.

Its not just the distance fallen, but the surface the animal lands on. If its slippery they may get hurt.

By the next day greg was pretty much back to his normal self...but he weighs about 20lbs and that is a lot of force to land on slippery flooring.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Weirdly, there is another thread here at TCS with nearly this exact same title. Anyway, I think I myself would worry about a kitten that is still in its growth stages jumping or falling down from great heights. They are still growing and most owners do not know just yet if they have any congenital issues which are developing in their bone growth.

My own cat turned out to have congenital luxating patellas in both back legs, signs of which did not become blatantly obvious to us until she was older than 10-11 months. If she had jumped down from great heights early on, with her growing oversized kneecaps that kept slipping in and out of her trochlear grooves, she likely would have gotten some bad injuries in a jump or big fall.

We had to do knee surgeries at about 16 mos old and then again, on the other knee, about a year later, just as a normal matter of course. But had we had to do it earlier and under worse circumstances (like from an unexpected additional injury), it could have been much more drastic to repair.

Even now, I had no idea prior to June of this year that she also has a "transitional L1 vertebra with hypoplastic ribs" (shouldn't be an issue), and that she only has two sacral segments in her spine, and not the normal three that a cat has. (Her xrays were read more thoroughly by a radiologist in June, and these additional oddities were discovered. The sacral issue helps me understand now why she was very fussy with how she was held or picked up when younger, as a kitten.)



So, if it were me(!), I'd tried to make sure the kitten stays away from jumping/ falling from great heights until it is closer to adulthood, re: the kitten's bone growth. Most kittens of course do not have congenital bone issues -- but my kitten did.

 

[rosegold]

Thank you Purr-fect and PushPurrCatPaws for the replies and advice. I really appreciate it!

Here is what I ended up doing with my loft:

I put a tension rod at the top and sewed some strong sheer curtains together, then drew them taut and used double-sided tape and command hooks to secure it to the side of the barrier. Kind of like a net. They could scratch through it if they want but Chilli isn’t a scratcher and neither is the kitten so far.

It doesn’t look the nicest (the off-center bit is killing me ) but so far it’s worked pretty well. The only place they can jump off now is the side railing by the stairs, which isn’t nearly as high, unless they try to climb around the curtain. To prevent that I put sticky double-sided tape on the barrier which will hopefully put them off jumping up there. I have yet to brainstorm a better solution for that area... but the kitten isn’t allowed to roam the house unsupervised yet anyway.

She turned out to be quite the active and bouncy girl, so I’m glad I did it, even though it was a headache and a bit of work to put together. I also put foam around the edges of the coffee table today since she kept flinging herself off the couch and narrowly missing hitting her face on the sides. Another day, another kittenproofing project!

 

[Tobermory]

Wow! What an ingenious solution!

 

[Purr-fect]

Thats a great idea.

We were very concerned when greg had hurt his leg and would have gladly installed such a barrier had we thought of it in time.

 

[rosegold]

Wow! What an ingenious solution!

Thanks! I don’t think it’ll be winning any interior design awards but it’s marginally less ugly than pet fencing, sports nets, or any of the other things I was considering.

Thats a great idea.

We were very concerned when greg had hurt his leg and would have gladly installed such a barrier had we thought of it in time.

I’m so glad Greg is okay now. My floor is also quite slippery and honestly the kitten still might injure herself just by landing a leap the wrong way.

 

[Kflowers]

Well, if you don't want a wall of cardboard boxes...

It looks fantastic!!! I love it! You're really clever and skilled, which is good since you added a kitten.

Okay, I totally understand about the off center thing, I like all my green beans to be the same length. Ooops, did I write that out loud?

Anyway, here's the decorating fix for the off center. Go to the fake silk flower store Dollar store by any name and buy the flowing cascades of leaves, Attach to the ceiling over the top center brace, edge to the side and drape down over the lower center brace. That will look completely intentional trellis like vines with a will of their own.

 

[Kflowers]

I didn't realize the loft banister was over a solid, I thought there were railing spokes between the banister and the floor. I'm glad your landlord has a sense of safety. But his safety for children made the banister more dangerous for kits since there was no way they could catch themselves if they started to fall.

Your solution is like summer curtains in the south. Open enough to allow a bit of breeze and closed enough to stop the mosquitoes.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

... I put a tension rod at the top and sewed some strong sheer curtains together, then drew them taut and used double-sided tape and command hooks to secure it to the side of the barrier. Kind of like a net. They could scratch through it if they want but Chilli isn’t a scratcher and neither is the kitten so far. ...

That's some quick thinking there, rosegold ! Hope it holds!

There's only one thing I foresee happening is the kitten, 'Miss Clever Bear Clove', climbing up the sheer curtains once she becomes aware of them and latches on during a wild leap. She will be like Spider Man.

 

[Kflowers]

If so, she'll probably keep hold of them and slow her descent.

edited because I'm trying to make friends with commas.

 

[rosegold]

Anyway, here's the decorating fix for the off center. Go to the fake silk flower store Dollar store by any name and buy the flowing cascades of leaves, Attach to the ceiling over the top center brace, edge to the side and drape down over the lower center brace. That will look completely intentional trellis like vines with a will of their own.

Oh, great idea! That may make it *slightly* more attractive for kitties wanting to bat the curtain though

There's only one thing I foresee happening is the kitten, 'Miss Clever Bear Clove', climbing up the sheer curtains once she becomes aware of them and latches on during a wild leap. She will be like Spider Man.

Yeah that’s definitely a possibility! The tension rod isn’t particularly strong either (it’s at its max length so it’s already a little wobbly). The loft is a strict “no-play” zone, meaning any hint of craziness and they go downstairs, which Chilli knows and obeys pretty well but Clove is another story!

This kitten literally never gets tired out. I know kittens are energetic but my goodness does she love to play. Last night after a day already full of her playing and no naps, I spent *at least* 35 minutes of very active, chasing playtime with a wand toy—she was jumping and climbing the cat tree and sprinting around at top speed and launching herself into backflips—and she STILL had the energy to play by herself again for another hour before admitting defeat and finding my lap. I told her I think I accidentally adopted a baby tiger.