How high can a cat jump? – Understanding cat wisdom

You might have always made a very humble guess when asked to think about how high can a cat jump but what we are going to tell you about the cat wisdom is going to surely shock you. Your feline friend certainly can do some crazy athletic stunts when required as compared to the normal playful strolling your cat keeps doing every day. Be prepared to get some astounding knowledge about how high can cats jump and even out-maneuver any of us too.

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Cats and jumping

The vertical jumps that the cats keep making now and then will certainly be unfairly compared if put together with the jumping abilities of us humans. So you must assess them in their world. Jumping to reach heights is one of the natural tendencies in cats and can be considered as a part of their notorious behavior.

It can also be believed that the cats jump upon elevated positions so that they can analyze and look around better, maybe to find something interesting! They also jump to reach heights where they can chase the birds and hunt them down. To get at a safe distance from any predator can also be one of the reasons behind their natural stimuli to jump.

Factors to determine a cat’s jumping abilities

Every cat jumps different and here are the things to consider for understanding how high can a cat jump.

Age of the cat: A young cat will be more athletic as compared to an elderly one.
The health of the cat: This is another important factor as a healthy cat can jump with the fullest energy and potential. Cats with medical issues like arthritis or obesity cannot jump as high.
Physical profile: The physical characteristics differ with breeds and that calls for a difference between the highest jumps that members of different breeds can make. Length, structure, and muscular build of the body play a determining role in the building of jumping abilities.

Facts related to cat wisdom about jumping

Cats are quite skilled in this field and they can do it much better than any of their feline competitor. Let us present some of the wonderful jumping cat facts for you.

On average, the cat jump height can be as much as 6 times the length of the body of the cat. This can even go on to be 7 times in certain cases.
The average body length of cats can be 18 inches and this means that they can make a jump of around 7 to 9 feet.
Cats measuring more than the average length can jump even higher that can go as much as 11 feet.
Some amount of running right before jumping can help the cats to take-off to more heights.
Any regular house cat can jump as high as 5 feet or more without even running.
House cats can jump higher than the dogs, sometimes even the trained ones.
Tininess helps the cats a lot in making jumps.
The human body cannot attain that jumping potential even if they were given an average cat’s height. This, again, is because of their natural biology.
The Burmese cats are uniquely agile and sensational jumpers. Some other fast jumpers are the Norwegian forest cats and Ragdolls.

Note: The highest cat jump record that made it to the Guinness Book was 213.36 cm. The cat who achieved this is known as Waffle, the Warrior Cat. She belongs to California, USA.

The mechanism that makes cats jump

The combination of great physiology and unique anatomy is the primary thing to be held responsible for the high jumps that the cats can make. They have extraordinarily strong muscles in their hind legs and nicely long limbs. These two factors come together to put the jumping mechanism in motion in the cats.

The cats have strong bones, tight muscles, and lower body weight; all of these factors make them a better jumper than other felines like dogs. The hind legs of the cat help to create the propelling force required by the cat to lift the body up in the air. That tail is used by them to maintain the balancing upon landing on the height.

The cats get into a crouching position first where they keep all the limbs over the ground. Then they lift the front paws along with stretching the body upwards and then finally kick upwards with the hind legs.

How they carry out the highest cat jump is very wonderful to watch as they do it with superb precision and sleekness. They calculate their move and ensure a proper landing by gracefully maintaining their body weight.

Helping your cat to jump

Practice makes everyone perfect and you can help your cat jump to better heights with some easy tips.

Use wand toys more while playing with your kitty to boost her jumping capabilities or even train her into becoming a high jumper. Such toy activities not only encourage jumping but also boost muscle power.
Create more mock shelves or cat trees and keep interesting objects on them to lure the cats into jumping towards them. You can get the climbing toys too.
Don’t forget to let the cats be as per their natural personality and don’t push unnecessarily.

Containing the over-jumping cats

Everybody knows that cats can jump but knowing how high can cats jump helps with the measures that need to be taken for keeping the cat as well as the house belongings safe. Here are some tips that might prove useful:

You must enclose the spaces like backyards or open entries with high fences to prevent the wild cats from coming in easily.
Carrying out the above step will also help to keep the house cat from lurking out and safe from bird attacks too.
Use fences with more heights, inward angling at the top, or with hinged inward bending to deter any attempt at climbing up.
If you have an especially notorious feline, then you may even have to try meshing or putting wires around the fence. Double-sided tape on indoor edges can also be a good idea.
Keep the shelves clean and don’t put important things on them in the open.
Don’t leave any food open.
You can also put alternatives like toys to keep them engaged.

Conclusion

Now that you have a pretty fair about how high can a cat jump, you can put that knowledge to any purpose like keeping your home safe, keeping the cat safe, or both. Have fun with your furry friends and you can even train them for great tricks if they show the interest.

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Luna Tran

My name is Luna and I am a great cat lover and a cat owner of three lovely cats. I have owned many cats till now and have dedicated many years to nurturing and caring cats. Through this blog, I am here to share my knowledge and experience about cats.