Cat in Southern China survived ten story fall but left paralyzed

A cat named Hei Hudie (Black Butterfly) underwent four surgeries over five months after he feel ten stories from a high rise building.

China: Cat fell ten stories. The photo was taken in the hospital where he was treated. Photo: Getty Images.

The story unfolded in the southwest of China in Chongqing municipality. The photo tells us he survived but was severely injured. Both hind legs are paralyzed.

They built one of those classic hind leg wheelchairs. We see them a lot in America but this is the first time I have seen a cat in China using one.

This is a nice and, I feel, a rather unusual story because I tend to associate southern China with the cat meat industry and ill-treatment of cats. This is the opposite except for what I’ll presume was carelessness in allowing this cat to be placed in a position of danger before falling. Although we don’t know what happened so it could have been an innocent accident.

The cat as we can see is a calico (tortie-and-white). Therefore she is female. We know that cats falling from a great height reach a relatively low terminal velocity which saves their lives. Falling from a lesser height can result in more severe injuries because the breaking effect of fanning out the body is less effective. Also we all know that cats fall on their feet using the self-righting mechanism.

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Comments

Cat in Southern China survived ten story fall but left paralyzed — 5 Comments

Sandra Murphey, No. CA, USA on March 18, 2015 at 11:13 pm said:
I too am surprised to see that they helped this cat in China, a land where they eat cats and dogs.
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- Michael Broad on March 19, 2015 at 7:12 am said:
  This is what caught my eye. It gives me hope that attitudes are slowly changing for the better in China. There is still a lot of cat meat but there are active animal rights advocates in China nowadays who hijack trucks laden with cats for the meat market. This has happened a few times. Good to see. A gradual enlightenment, let’s say.
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  - Michele S. on March 19, 2015 at 8:48 pm said:
    From what I’ve read on-line, the poor cat was stepped on before being thrown off the 9th floor of the building 🙁
    The good news is that lots of people in China do care about animals and one anonymous lady donated £1,100 towards the cost of surgery for Hei Hudie. Apparently this little cat has touched the hearts of many and they are already hopeful of finding a loving home for her in the not too distant future.
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    - Michael Broad on March 19, 2015 at 8:59 pm said:
      God, I didn’t for a minute think that the cat was thrown off the 9th floor. Horrendous. But as you say it is not all bad. There are some genuinely decent cat lovers in the China. There needs to be more. Thanks for researching that info.
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      - Michele S. on March 19, 2015 at 10:00 pm said:
        I was originally looking to discover who was the “loving” owner that had spent thousands on surgery, when I came across the horrible truth 🙁
        So often we hear that Chinese people have a callous attitude towards animals. It’s heartwarming to know that someone cared enough to take her to the vets and so many people have donated money towards the bills.
        China has long been closed to Western media, so perhaps there are many more animal supporters than we’d been aware of. Things are changing though. Youtube is one medium where many Asian people proudly share clips of their beloved cats.
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