Here are 16 facts about high-rise syndrome in domestic cats. In some parts of the world high-rise syndrome is relatively common and those places will be conurbations where there is a high human population density such as Singapore.
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- “High-rise syndrome” refers to a collection of injuries sustained by cats when they fall from buildings, normally apartments.
- Domestic cats can fall from apartments that are several or more stories above ground level for various reasons including playing while near an open window or chasing an insect on a balcony or misjudging the nature of the material on which they are balancing.
- Domestic cats are hardwired to climb trees with expertise in which they have a good grip because of the nature of the surface on which they are climbing. But when they are climbing up or along a slippery balcony railing, they may make misjudgments and fall.
- The severity of the injuries that domestic cats incur when falling from a great height do not always increase with the height that they fall. There is not a linear progression which directly links the height of their fall with more severe injuries.
- After seven stories high the number and severity of their injuries reaches a threshold and it may even decrease if they fall from a higher window or balcony.
- The cat that falls from eight eight floors up may have a greater chance of surviving than falling from three stories up.
- The reason is because domestic cats reach a terminal velocity of about 60 mph when falling from more than seven stories up as they fan out their bodies and at that speed their inner ear vestibular apparatus tells them to relax and therefore when they impact the ground their weight is more evenly distributed and they are more flexible causing less injury. Up until terminal velocity the limbs are more rigid because the vestibular apparatus tells the cat that they are falling at speed.
- Sometimes cats are lucky enough to incur minor injuries after a long fall.
- More than 80% of Singaporeans live in high-rise apartment blocks (HDB) and the SPCA sees about five instances of apartment cats falling from various places weekly. This amounts to around 250 cats annually. About 50% of the cats in Singapore who fall from a great height die on impact with the ground. I suspect this is partly due to the nature of the surface with which they make impact.
- High-rise syndrome describes the range of injuries that cats offer if they survive the fall. Almost all of them incur some type of thoracic trauma. This means the part of the body of the cat between the neck and the abdomen. The injuries might include pulmonary contusions and air in the chest and outside of the lungs.
- On impact the lower jaw can hit the upper jaw which causes facial wounds and fractures to the jaw or hard palate.
- There might be consequential bleeding from the nose and broken teeth.
- There might be fractures to one or both rear legs and less frequently to the small bones of the front legs.
- The chest injuries are the most life-threatening and require emergency treatment but if treated quickly thoracic injuries need not be life-threatening. Once the cat is breathing normally the other injuries can be assessed.
- Prevention is better than cure and cat caregivers living in high-rise apartments should never allow their cats to go out onto a balcony unsupervised or near an open window while playing with them.
- Some cat caregivers are overconfident about their domestic cat companion’s abilities and awareness of the dangers. Domestic cats are fearless when it comes to heights. Often, they don’t recognise the dangers. It’s up to caregivers to take preventative action.
RELATED: Two cats fall out of a 13th floor apartment simultaneously and are killed.
