Ragdoll cat slides under sofa with 7 centimeter gap

I think this is a new way to interpret the name of the Ragdoll cat. They act like ragdolls (the toy) when getting through tiny spaces. In this remarkable video on Twitter you see a Ragdoll cat pushing his way under a sofa but the gap he has to go through is 7 cm high or about 2.75 inches. It’s a very tiny amount of space and the cat flattens himself indicating a great deal of pliability and flexibility in his body.

It is not something that I had fully considered before and it may explain why cats can get into spaces which we find hard to comprehend. The human guardian who lives with the cat is equally impressed because he then measures the distance between the lower edge of the sofa and the hard floor.

Please remember that videos such as the one above sometimes stop working or disappear for reasons beyond my control and if that has happened I apologise.

Ragdoll cats – link to a comprehensive page on this popular cat breed.

Admittedly, the shiny floor helps because it allows the cat to slide, which can only happen because his hind claws are able to dig into the floor. So there are other physical attributes to this cat’s feat other than his flexibility or squashability!

The video does not tell me that this cat is a Ragdoll but I believe he or she is because the appearance is very much of a purebred cat and also very closely matches that of the Ragdoll. This is because the cat is lynx pointed and Ragdolls are pointed and his feet are ‘mitted’ which means that there is some white fur on his feet. Also, he has medium-long hair which is exactly what the Ragdoll looks like. So there we are, a beautiful Ragdoll cat performing an interesting Houdini feat.

I’m reminded of two things when I see this other than the cat’s athleticism. The first is that cats like to hide in small places like this. This cat looks confident but some timid cats would like to go under a sofa but 99% of them wouldn’t make it under this sofa! Cat owners should always leave a space in their home for a cat to hide in.

Secondly, cats do like to crawl under items of furniture like this one but if it was a reclining armchair then it would be a very dangerous thing to do. In my humble opinion no cat owner should have a reclining chair in their home with machinery inside it. Some reclining chairs are safe but the majority will have a complex series of leavers inside underneath the seat. If a cat or kitten can get underneath the chair and then their owner sits on it and reclines the cat can easily be killed or badly injured. Remove reclining chairs from your home if you have a cat. I’m sorry to say that but there is an ever present danger. I suppose you could just check under the chair every time he got into it but one day you’ll forget or on another day a visitor tries it out while you’re in the kitchen brewing the tea and bingo your cat’s life is ended in a horrible manner. Incidentally, the same applies to small dogs. Both dogs and cats have been killed in this way.

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