5 tips to prevent your cat from falling from the balcony

Have you ever heard of “parachute cat syndrome”? This righting reflex syndrome is not a 100% guarantee that your cat will avoid accidents. Against falls, here are our tips.

At the beginning of April 2021, the story of Woodie, a cat living with his master in Orly, in Val-de-Marne, went viral. The cat spent very long hours locked on the window sill of an apartment, wedged on an area of ​​a few tens of square centimeters, between the roller shutters on one side and the railing grid on the other . The residents had tried to alert the owner by ringing the bell, without a response. The situation lasted almost 48 hours until the association Animal protection action be contacted.

Woodie finally climbed over the railing trying to break free and fell three meters. When the cat was picked up by his master, the latter explained that he wanted to punish the animal “because he had peed on a bed”, according to Anne-Claire Chauvancy, the president of the association, who confided in Parisian. If Woodie is well and has not presented any injuries despite the fall, he has been seized by the police and a complaint has been filed for “act of cruelty.” Falls from several floors, provoked or not, are unfortunately common. If you live in an apartment building and your apartment is on a high floor, this is probably something you dread.

What is parachute cat syndrome?

In veterinary medicine, parachutist cat syndrome refers to lesions caused by a fall from a great height. In October 2019, a doctoral thesis from the Maisons-Alfort veterinary school looked at the case of parachute cat syndrome. If cats have the ability to fall on their feet after a fall, they quickly understand the danger when they are several meters high. Yet, according to the study, a cat can fall from a balcony or a window for two reasons.

  • Unconsciousness: when a cat which, following its primitive hunter instinct, wants to catch a bird despite the risk of falling. This can also be the case with a fearful cat, who, having panicked for some reason, would have jumped into the void.
  • Clumsiness: when a cat misjudges the distance to jump from one balcony to another, or when the window sill is wet.

How to prevent your cat from falling from the balcony or the window?

It remains to be seen how to avoid the worst for your cat. First of all, it seems that sterilization limits the kitty desire to escape or to satisfy certain instincts. But that does not prevent the risk of slipping or wanting to catch a bird in flight which passes in front of your window. Here are five things to remember and do to keep your cat safe …

  • Close the windows when you leave home and your cat is not in front of you.
  • Do not leave the windows wide open unattended, rather put them tilt and turn, but, above all, with side protection. In fact, without protection, tilt-and-turn windows can be dangerous, because your cat’s rear end can get stuck.
  • There are protective nets that can be installed all around a balcony. If the balcony gaps are wider than your cat, these protective nets will help prevent them from going through.

Melanie Bonvard

Mélanie deciphers pop culture from a societal angle and questions the female gaze in films or even series, because everything is a question of gaze, she …