Soooooo My Cat...is stuck in a tree

As has been said already by Draeger, we will help out owners if their cat gets stuck and it's the first time I've heard of anybody being asked for cash. We only ever threaten a charge for persistant (ie, pests) callers and then, it's usually only applicable to nursing homes and the like.

The one thing about cats though, every blooming time I've pitched a ladder to rescue a stuck moggie, the blooming things always use my arm like a scratching post as if they want to stay where they are, no appreciation. I don't like cats.
 
Autumn isn't too far away. If it can hold off for a bit, it could sit on a leaf and float down. I think that's what they do at our local zoo if an elephant gets stuck up a tree around this time of year.
 
hosepipe. cats can drop a long way and land fine

Not reliably, and probably less likely from that height.

The ability of cats to survive long falls is due to them being able to move into a position that maximises their air resistance. That reduces their terminal velocity to something survivable (though not necessarily "fine"), but it takes a little time for the cat to get into position. 30-ish feet might be the worst of both worlds - high enough to do major damage but not high enough to give the cat enough time to get into "parachute" position.
 
Knock it out the tree, a cats terminal velocity isn't quick enough to hurt it, they can fall from huge huge heights and be totally unharmed.
 
Sorry going off topic here...

But would the owner of the bike not have rights to remove the bike lock? I've heard of accidents before where someone's not paid any attention when locking their own bike to a frame and accidently locking in someone elses in the process. Cutting off their lock would appear to be rather extreme and could put you in the light of attempting to steal both bikes.

However if someone has deliberately locked a bike to a frame to prevent it from being moved, then surely that would be reason enough to remove it. I know full well if i had a bike worth thousands and that happened to me, I would get an angle grinder down to cut it off.

Absolutely, given a similar situation if it were my bike I'd remove the lock as well. However it would still stand that asking the fire service to remove any lock from a bike would certain protocols to be adhered to on their part. I *think* that is what arknor was getting at. I'd remove a strange lock which suddenly appeared on my bike within minutes but then again I've got access to some of the most powerful cutting equipment available so it wouldn't take me long to do so. ;)
 
Cats can climb up but not down as they have no grip. Eventually it will get hungry and either jump or fall trying to get out.

Mine did the same not long after we moved, After a couple of days it just jumped from about 2 house heights landed on the grass and casually walked over to the food bowl like nothing had happened.
 
Cats can climb up but not down as they have no grip. Eventually it will get hungry and either jump or fall trying to get out.

Mine did the same not long after we moved, After a couple of days it just jumped from about 2 house heights landed on the grass and casually walked over to the food bowl like nothing had happened.

2 house heights, as in 4 stories? that's amazing
 
They have a non lethal terminal velocity so as long as they long as they land right then they should be ok.

This is not true. It's a partial truth exaggerated as urban myth.

Some cats survive long falls.

If a cat falls a significant distance, there are three possibilities:

1) They survive unharmed or with very minor injuries that heal unaided.
2) They survive and need treatment from a vet.
3) They die.

The problem is that neither 1 nor 3 can easily be counted. There are only anecdotes about them.

2 can be counted, since vets keep records. There was a study in a vetinary hospital in 1987. More than a third of the cats required critical emergency treatment and a tenth of the cats died anyway.

But how many didn't get taken to the vets because they were unharmed or dead? No way of knowing.

What is known is that it is not true that cats will definitely survive a fall unharmed. Also, it takes a much higher fall for them to be able to position themself to minimise their terminal velocity - that study showed a reduction in injuries in cats that had fallen more than 7 storeys.

Some discussion and links here:

http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/3430/can-cats-survive-a-fall-from-any-height
 
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To the terminal velocity thing, doesn't it have something to do with there tail and the way it makes there body turn while falling? Could be well of here...but that's rattling around my brain.
 
To the terminal velocity thing, doesn't it have something to do with there tail and the way it makes there body turn while falling? Could be well of here...but that's rattling around my brain.

If a cat spreads its legs out and positions itself chest downwards (i.e. much the same position as a human would take to minimise their speed and maintain stability while falling before opening a parachute), the relatively large surface area creates enough air resistance to give the cat a relatively low terminal velocity. In the study I referred to, the injuries indicated that cats falling a shorter distance landed on their legs and cats falling a longer distance more often landed on their chests.

Maybe a cat's tail helps it stabilise itself into that position. Might that be what you're thinking of?
 
Through natural selection, cats have what is called aerial righting reflex which allows them to, given enough time, sense that they are falling incorrectly and spin themselves around like a sky diver or astronaut so that their feet are facing the ground. Having your main shock absorbers hit the ground instead of your back is crucial for fall survival. Interestingly, every animal that lives in the trees has a similar reflex, suggesting the same evolutionary process. You can see a shot by shot view of the aerial righting reflex below.



http://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/how-do-cats-survive-falls-from-great-heights/
 
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