Cat Jumping Skills. It Depends on the Cat

All healthy, average weight cats are good jumpers (and by human standards, amazing jumpers) but some are better than others. Cats do vary in their skills just as they do in their characters.

Here are two extremes:

epic-cat-fail Still not out of reach

Admittedly the bad jumper is overweight and he might be middle-aged or older. The slender super-jumper is very impressive indeed. You can see how he hauls himself up the last couple of feet.

The jumping ability comes from fast twitch muscles, long levers (long bones in the legs providing excellent leverage) and excellent orientation skills. You’ll see a cat sway his head from side to side at the target or landing zone. He does this to get a good fix on the position by using his binocular vision.

Dwarf cats such as the Munchkin have short legs. They can still jump well but less well than a normal cat because they have less leverage.

Good jumping skills probably also depends on the confidence of the cat. Outgoing confident cats might be better jumpers than timid cats.

Probably the world’s best cat jumper is the cougar – powerful hind quarters and long limbs.

33 thoughts on “Cat Jumping Skills. It Depends on the Cat”

  1. Hi Caroline, I’ve never seen a declawed cat in real life thank goodness but it stands to reason that they have no grip, cats need to dig their claws in for climbing and balancing is awkward for declawed cats too because they slide on shiny surfaces.

  2. It took me awhile to understand what you meant, Ruth, as I’ve never experienced nurturing a declawed cat. I see it now. No claws, no grip. 🙁

  3. I feel for your great loss, Michael. I still am over there on Orchard St, where I buried my Panda and Makita. Wish that I could visit their graves. But, to stay positive, They are in my heart. Thank goodness, nothing can take that away. <3

  4. Yes declawing is cruel no matter how many paws but declawing 4 paws means 4 painful feet to walk on, unimaginable how a cat could cope with that. I’ve seen a video of a cat lifting her 2 front declawed paws in turn, for a bit of relief from pressure, how on earth could a 4 paw declawed cat even walk about at first?
    I just can’t come to terms with the cruelty of any vet who does declawing!

  5. If they declaw the front alone, they are just as cruel. you know? I cannot imagine it at any level of such cruelty.

  6. He slipped? It does look like he’s slipped. But he didn’t even try! Was he pushed, before he had a chance to make the leap? stay tuned…

    [Michael, where did you get this fig, anyway?] 😉 You’re just teasing us, again. sigh. OK, best effortless leap (besides our cats jumping from floor to top of frig) goes to Titan, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuiKbnA3w0Q

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