Conference misery::feline_v1

>      Nobody deliberately dropped the cats as a part of a medical
>    experiment. The animals they saw and treated had either jumped or
>    accidentally fallen out of windows in high-rises and were brought
>    to the Animal Medical Center for emergency treatment.

GOOD incentive to make sure the screens are secure in your windows and
a GOOD reason to NOT allow cats on balconies or porches of apartments...
They do fall and they do get hurt.

			D

    GOD...................
    
    At least it turns out not to have been intentional.
    
    However.......
    
    My sister, a student at UMASS, lives off campus with several other
    kids.  One of her apartment-mates, Greg, use to intentionally drop
    his cat from the second story porch to show off the fact that "cats
    always land on their feet."  She tried to tell the moron that the
    poor animal could easily sustain internal damage by this repetetive
    abuse, but it didn't seem to stir him.  She made sure that nothing
    happened to the cat while she was around, but she couldn't control
    his actions at other times.  The cat was put to sleep over the last
    winter break....We don't officially know the medical reasons why,
    but, Gee, let me take a guess.......
    
    Maureen

    Personally I would have kidnapped that cat off to another home,
    and then called the police and reported Greg.
    

    If no one dropped them deliberately out of the window then how do
    they exactly know how they landed?  Good eye sight? and in the right
    place at the right time to watch them "jump"?  
    
    Tell me another one!

    RE .4
    I AGREE!!!  The  "explanation" from the researchers is too sketchy;
    and if they are basing their findings on something they didn't
    actually witness that how can draw a valid conclusion as they claim
    to have done - pretty poor "science" at that I'd say.
    Cats and other sentient creatures have been undergoing incredible
    abuse in labs for decades. But they are now running scared as
    some of their "techniques" are being uncovered and are faced with
    thier air supply of research grants being cut off for experiments
    performed for the sake of morbid curiousity.
    
    It seems they think they are the elite in intelligence and therefore
    can dish out lame excuses and baloney concerning their actions and
    non-scientists will quake at their superior intelligence. But they
    are going to learn that the public is well informed and no longer
    consider researchers infallible.
    
    My nephew is one such researcher and believe me he is no more
    intelligent than the average person, but he has been trained
    very well in his pro-vivesction arguemnts for as he told me
    "we are being taught how to deal with YOU people" meaning myself
    and anyone else who works to stop this intoloerable abuse of animals.
    
    Fran
    

    My Benjamin jumped out of a window once at my condo.  It was the
    living room window which was right above the garage, making it the
    second level.  I was going away on vacation and made very sure my
    boys stayed inside so I wouldn't have to worry about them when I
    left.  When it came time to leave, I did my "bed check" and found
    Ben missing, and the living room screen ajar.  Lo and behold, after
    calling outside for about 15 minutes, there came Ben meowing at
    me almost in a mocking manner as if to say "ha, I got out and you
    didn't know."  He wasn't injured or anything, but I was mortified
    that he jumped the distance.  I think maybe he landed on my car
    and then jumped to the ground.  I did make sure, though, that my
    screens were secure after that and if they did come loose, the window
    wasn't opened wide enough for an escape. 
    

    Years ago I lived in a condo on the 17th floor.  My kitty, Missy,
    was fond of sitting at the open window in my kitchen area, and in 
    the spring before I had a chance to put in the screen, she could 
    jump down to the roof of a "pop out" porch for the condo below mine.
    To be honest with you, it never crossed my mind that she would be
    so stupid as to try to jump to the ground, or so clumsey as to fall
    off.  Anyhow, she never did eather.  One day, my brother was visiting.
    When he saw her sitting at the open, screenless window looking down,
    he turned to me and sort of kiddingly said "It sort of looks like
    she is contemplating suicide".  Just then, she tossed a glance at
    us over her sholder and jumped to the roof below.  My brother, however,
    did not remember that the roof was there.  I never saw him freak
    out so bad in my life.  It only took me a second to figure out that
    he did not remember the roof was there.  I then started laughing
    *so hard* that I was unable to tell him.  He just stood there in
    horror.  He felt that we had seen my cat jump down 17 floors, and
    all I could do was laugh.  That only shocked him more - and made
    me laugh more.  I'm sorry.  I know that the subject is not a laughing
    matter, but the topic did bring back a fond memory.
    
    To be honest with you, though, Missy was just one of those cats
    with more common sense than most people I know.  I can't say that
    about some of my current "dumb bunny" fuzzies today.
    
    Mairon

    Re .4 

 > If no one dropped them deliberately out of the window then how do
 > they exactly know how they landed?  Good eye sight? and in the right
 > place at the right time to watch them "jump"?  


   They can't exactly "know" for sure, but they can make a very accurate
    "guess" based on the nature of the injuries sustained.
    
    Based on how the bones broke (angle and extent of the break) and
    where the internal injuries are ( and how extensive those injuries
    are) , they can determine where a blow ( the force of impact) would
    have to come from to cause such injuries.  Knowing where the blow came
    from, they can determine which way the cat landed.
    

    Terry

    Re the original study:
    
    I read about this when it was first done. It was based on veterinary
    records (New York City vets get quite a lot of "flat cat" business,
    I gather). While I would, alas, find it believable that an over-eager
    or under-scrupulous researcher would deliberately drop animals to
    test a theory, I am reasonably certain that the data in this particular
    example came from legit sources. (The author of the book I read
    was one of the vets who provided data.)
    
    As to the accuracy of the facts - well, there's probably a certain
    amount of leeway there. If the family lived on the 17th floor, it's
    a fair chance that the cat fell from there, but it could have run
    down the stairs and fallen out a window much farther down. Can the
    vet trust the witness? *Was* there a witness, or was the open window
    and the dented cat the only evidence? I suppose that somewhere in
    the archives of medical journals there are more footnoted lists
    than we'd ever want to read, detailing the sources of data like
    this.
    
    I'm more worried about the implication that cats *can* survive serious
    falls. There are some fascinating true stories of humans who have
    fallen when parachutes failed, fallen down mountainsides, etc., and
    have survived with varying degrees of damage. This does not mean that
    we can all jump out of planes, chuteless, with impunity. Likewise, the
    fact that one cat somewhere survived a 17-story drop doesn't mean
    that Morris won't break his neck if he falls out the second-floor
    window...

    But ya just can't tell some people.
    
    -b

Accidentally Fell?????
    
    This reminds me of how a friend of mine acquired her German Shephard
    type dog (altho this is about her dog, it also applied to cats!!)
    
    She was walking in Boston with her husband when she came across
    some young boys (about 10 years old) who were pulling a puppy
    along with a rope around its neck. The puppy was obviously unhappy
    so she said "why are you treating your dog so badly?"
    
    Reply -  "Oh lady- this ain't my dog. It don't belong to nobody.
    Me and my friends and my brothers throw them off the roofs
    of buildings to see if they live or not."
    
    My friend was horrified of course. She offerred the boy $10
    for the dog which he gladly gave to her. That was about 7 years
    ago, and the story still bothers me as much today as it did when
    I first heard it. 
    --------------
    
    The point is - why did a newspaper article like that get printed
    even assuming the data was gathered from sincere sources? 
    It had no real value and could possibly serve to feed sick minds 
    (assuming the person could read - it is doubtful that these boys ever
    picked up a newspaper - let alone read Dear Abby.) Articles
    like that one can produce a "let's see how far this cat can drop"
    if read and interpreted by  a sicko.   
                              
    
    

    re 1261.10
    
    	Congrats to your friend for rescuing that poor dog - so many
    people would have just shook their heads at the scene and kept
    walking.  I too would be upset years later over a story like
    that.
    
    -Dee
    

    I just can't imagine that a human being is capable of such horror...But
    then again, look what we as a species do to other human beings...It
    is so sad...

    I don't classify anyone that would do that as a human being.
    
    Deb

    Re: .13
    
    Good choice of words "MONSTER".
    
    A lot of people classify horrible people as "ANIMALS".  They are
    not Animals!  Animals don't kill for the sake of killing or are
    capible of anyother morbid, sick type of things some humans are.
    

    When I lived in San Francisco, our apartment was on the top (sixth)
    floor of the building.  One of our bedroom windows opened onto a
    fire escape, and the other...  One of my cats liked to go out and
    sit on the fire escape in nice weather.  Unfortunately, he tried
    to go out the wrong window... five stories down and bounced off
    the awning onto the street.  We finally found him at the Humane
    Society... the only damage was a dislocated rear leg.  Needless
    to say, we kept BOTH windows closed after that.
    
    Where I live now I'm on the ground floor.  I've recently started
    keeping my cats inside because of some obnoxious new kids in the
    building.  One small problem... summer is approaching and it gets
    REALLY hot in the apartment if I keep the windows closed.  But if
    I open them, the cats shove the screens out and escape.  (These
    are VERY large, VERY strong cats.)  Does anyone have any great
    ideas on how to attach screens so these monsters can't get loose?
    I've tried nailing them to the wall (the screens, not the cats)
    and wiring them... no luck.
    
    thanks,
    
    -Mary
    

    Can you get a window air conditioner (and BOLT it in)?  Or open
    the windows just a couple of inches?  You can pin windows partly
    open by drilling holes between the movable part and the stationary
    part and getting window pins.
    

    If they are double-hung windows, you can use the tops.
    
    For casements, I had taken to drilling small (3/16-1/4") holes every
    few inches from the bottom, and putting dowels in - snug fit. They
    bow inward to insert and remove, but the pressure against the screen
    prevents them from coming out if pushed.

    Gary

It is also worth it to get the screens re-screened with metal screening...not
that thin, cheap nylon that is usually available.  I have also placed nails
all along the screen frame, nailed into the house, but bent over to catch the
screen frame.  This prevents any kitty pushing having results, but a determined
human can still push the screen out if a fire were to occur and exit from
the window is required.  I can then turn the nails away from the screen and
remove it from the outside to wash windows too.

		D-who's-been-there-when-sam-got-out