Is it okay that my new kitten doesn't land on her feet?
My new kitten who is about three months old almost never lands on her feet. She falls frequently (i.e. off the bed, off the couch, off the cat perch), and while she never acts like she is hurt or stunned, she doesn’t land on her feet. Sometimes she’ll land on her belly, and other times right on her side. A lot of times she’ll fall and roll, not even really stopping at all.
I have two other cats who I’ve had for years, and they have always landed on their feet except for in rare occasions. My new kitten only lands on her feet if she is being careful and calculated. Should it be a concern that she isn’t landing on her feet? Is it enough that I need to get her checked out by a vet? She seems fine otherwise, I’ve just never had a cat who didn’t land on their feet. Is it a kitten thing she’ll grow out of?
Yes, she has been checked out by a vet before. She was a rescue kitten, and so she had been checked for things before we got her.
As far as her balance being off, again, the only thing we see is her not landing on her feet unless she is being cautious. She doesn’t walk or run funny. She doesn’t run into things, although she does bump her head on furniture on occasion from not paying attention when making a fast exit.
As far as the ear mites theory, she doesn’t present any symptoms of ear mites. I’m meticulous about keeping my cats clean, and I’ve cleaned her ears on several occasions. She doesn’t scratch them a lot or shake her head around, and she doesn’t get upset when you touch her ears. In fact, she enjoys having her ears cleaned. She is such a prissy girl. :]
I will also say that most of the time when she doesn’t land on her feet or she takes a hard landing, she is jumping from a fairly high distance. From a few feet, she lands fine. When she is jumping from the top of her five foot perch to the ground, she lands kind of hard. Could it just be because she is still so small? My other cats weren’t big on heights until they got older. If they got up on a piece of furniture that was high, they’d meow for someone to get them down. My kitten just takes a flying leap. Completely fearless, but also kind of reckless.
Filed under: Cat Furniture
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Has she EVER been checked out by a vet? Her balance is off – which means she may have ear mites, an ear infection or some sort of neurological problem – all of which warrant a trip to the vet.
edit: is it just me or are you making excuses NOT to have her checked out? You can’t always tell a cat has ear mites. Do you have an otoscope? I’m thinking this post wasn’t to ask what to do – moreso to justify just "letting it be" and doing NOTHING.
Perhaps you should stop dropping it.
Contrary to all the olde wives tales, cats don’t always lad on their feet. Oh, they will attempt to, but they will fail on occasion.
I had one cat that fell of a 2 1/2 story balcony and it landed on it’s arsse and cracked it’s hip.
My 1 1/2 year old female broke a tree branch last year and fell on her side which broke three ribs and rendered her unconscious for 1/2 an hour which was a good thing. The vet told us that if she had woken up before we got her to to the vets she could have punctured a lung.
something is probably wrong with your cats ears.
No. Absolutely not. You should drown the kitten in bleach to put it out of it’s misery.
Just take her to the vet. We obviously can’t provide 100% correct answers. Just keep her from jumping a lot until you’re able to get her checked out by your vet. It doesn’t matter if you’ve already got her checked out before. Go to the vets again, and they’ll tell you what’s wrong. She could have a balance issue, which is caused by different things. So, your safest bet is to just GET HER CHECKED OUT BY A VET. easy peesy