My cat just jumped down one story onto concrete

[pharmjenn]

My 2yo cat just ran past me and jumped off our second story landing onto the concrete first floor below. The spindles are off the railing, and we have no flooring as we are remodeling. He was chasing the other cat and diverted when he saw me. Scared the crap out of me to see him jump, and my 10yo downstairs heard him land.
He hid for couple minutes and when we found him he was very puffed up, so either scared himself from the jump, or just from the chase. He initially would not come to us, but did eventually walk back upstairs when he heard the treat container up there.
His limbs do not appear to be painful when I feel them, but he is now sticking close to me. I know cats "always land on their feet" but this terrified me.

Anyone know if a break would be felt immediately, or could he start limping later/tomorrow? We are heading out of town tomorrow for 3 days and they will be alone with just a daily check in.

[mackmama]

I would take him to urgent care as there could be internal bleeding or fractures from a fall from that height.

[mommy111]

Yikes! That sounds painful!! Take him to see a vet

[bisous]

Honestly I would think he would be fine. I grew up with cats and they’re crazy. The younger and the lighter the cat the less likely he is to be injured.

I think you’d see the injury but keep an eye out just in case. My current cat is neither young nor light! He did injure himself (we didn’t see what he did) but he’s all better now. We only noticed it because of his limp.

Hope all is ok!

[JustMe]

I don't know the answer to your question, but my childhood cat jumped out of our third floor apartment window and was completely fine. This was a very large building and it was a considerable distance down from our apartment.

[JBaxter]

Unless he his limping or acting in pain I would not bother.

[TwinFoxes]

There was a PBS show about cats, and they showed how cats manage to land on their feet from heights. It was really interesting, and I'm not even a cat person. I think your kitty is fine, probably a little freaked out, but fine.

[carolinamama]

Cats can be crazy! I'm betting he is going to be fine. One of my childhood cats jumped out a second story window and landed on our concrete driveway. Knocked out the screen on his way to get away from my little brother chasing him. I'm sure he was spooked but was ultimately no worse for the wear. That same brother became the cat's favorite person a few short years later.

[mmsmom]

I would call the vet so they can tell you what to look out for to determine if he is injured. Cats rarely take jumps they can not safely land so he is likely fine. I do remember seeing though that they actually do better from higher falls... they have the ability to completely relax their bodies so impact isn’t as severe. But shorter falls can cause injury because there isn’t time to relax their bodies.

[Cam&Clay]

We have a "bridge" in our house that our cats have jumped off before. The sound is loud but they've always been fine. We were the ones who freaked out!

[khalloc]

I wouldn’t worry about it at all to be honest. If he’s acting fine, then he’s fine. My dad tells stories of when he was a kid and him and his older brother used to drop a cat off a 3rd story porch onto the sidewalk below because they heard that cats always land on their feet and they wanted to test that out. The cat was always fine. I’m not condoning that, obviously, but they were young and had basically a single mother for a parent and she couldn’t be watching them 100% of the time, plus it was the early 1950s.

[pharmjenn]

Thanks everyone for your responses. The vet help line of course recommended he be seen and get x rays. I checked him out again and watched him for a few hours before bed. He ate, drank, went to the bathroom both 1 and 2 so I went to sleep. In the morning, still acting fine and no pain to any limb nor to his belly when I felt him.

[bisous]

Thanks everyone for your responses. The vet help line of course recommended he be seen and get x rays. I checked him out again and watched him for a few hours before bed. He ate, drank, went to the bathroom both 1 and 2 so I went to sleep. In the morning, still acting fine and no pain to any limb nor to his belly when I felt him.

I really think he’s fine. The drop isn’t that great for a cat and if he’s showing no symptoms I think that’s even more validation.