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Lost connection to the last brain cell (i.imgur.com)
submitted 11 hours ago by to c/cat@lemmy.world
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[–] 70 points 9 hours ago (10 children)

Camera pulls back yo reveal a drop that in no way whatsoever would hurt any cat that actually knows how to cat.

Then again, judging by this guys struggles, its best not to rely on his natural cat skills to land on his feet.

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  • [–] 10 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (8 children)

    Actually, short falls are more dangerous than long falls.

    Because cats can rotate mid-air to land on their feet, and (most) cats can survive terminal velocity falls with little issue, falls too short for a cat to turn over can be much more dangerous.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

    Not sure if I'd say that most have little issue on the terminal velocity thing. But it was an interesting study https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-rise_syndrome

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  • [–] 2 points 1 hour ago (1 child)

    That's the idea I was referring to, yeah.

    Do note that cats right themselves in just a few feet, it's the supposed survivability at terminal velocity that's interesting. 90% cats that fall more than 2 stories and survive long enough to be brought in for treatment survive, but the vast majority have bodily trauma, and most sustain fractures of some kind.

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  • [–] 3 points 33 minutes ago

    Just so you know, there is a conflicting study mentioned at the end of the main section that refutes the original claim:

    In a 2004 study, it was reported that cats falling from higher places suffered more severe injuries than those experiencing shorter drops.[5]

    In the main section they call out that there may be a survivorship bias. Basically, you only bring in the cats that survived a high drop because otherwise the cat is clearly dead.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 hours ago (1 child)

    Cats only need about 1-2 feet to right themselves. A fall from about 1 story is not likely to hurt a cat

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  • [–] 1 point 1 hour ago

    True, I misspoke. Cats right themselves very quickly. I think I mixed it up with something about humans. Pretty sure they need more like 4 feet to turn over completely, but I suppose most cats don't start a fall completly upsidedown.

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  • [–] -1 points 3 hours ago* (2 children)

    Are wide falks dangerous too?

    And, no, that isn't true. Falls that are short enough for them to not be able to turn are far from anything that would hurt them. I don't know where you got this idea but you should know better than spreading dumb misinformation.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 hour ago

    Firstly, saying "nu uh" and shouting "misinformation" is no way to interact with people. Focusing on typos in particular shows that you have no better arguments.

    Secondly, there have been a few studies about cat injuries after falls, with conclusions in both directions. 1987, the study where this idea originated, noticing fewer injuries after 7 stories. 2004, a study finding roughly consistent injuries below 7 stories, but a sharp increase above.

    After reading through them, I can think of several confounding factors. Since both studies are of cats brought in to clinics, there are many uncontrolled factors such as the surface the cats tended to land on in the area the studies were conducted, as well as the likelihood of falling on street furniture or shrubs, survivorship bias of different populations not bothering to bring in heavily or lightly injured cats, or the unrecorded cats that died on impact.

    Thirdly, I think I insinuated that long falls are not particularly dangerous for house cats, which is somewhat wrong. In both of the linked studies, about 90% of treated cats survived, but nearly all of them sustained at least bodily trauma, if not fractured limbs, vertebrae, teeth, and mandibles.

    Lastly, housecats reach terminal velocity after 5 stories, which is the interesting detail I was refering to. My reasoning for why was incorrect, as cats rights themselves in only a few feet of distance. I think there may have been a study about humans falling less than 4 feet being more dangerous that 12 feet due to head injuries or something, but I don't recall. Either way, it resulted in a mangled reference that did not deserve ridicule.

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