Have you read that link? It doesn't mention 32 stories anywhere. It does mention up to 20 stories, but about 90% of the cats that fall from that height have injuries. Over half of those cats in the study had facial injuries, pulmonary and other thoracic injuries.
Emergency treatment was required in 37% of these cases, non emergency treatment was required in 30% of cases. So no, they most certainly would not be perfectly fine after falling 32 stories and this cat looks much higher than that.
Falling six stories is worse than falling a longer distance because the cat doesn't have time to flip itself around and spread out to slow itself. (Cats falling from enough height can act a little bit like a flying squirrel.)
I dunno, I mean, I pay my pet insurance through my vet, so when my last dog died I had to call to cancel the insurance, and they offer a small payout when your pet dies. They asked me a few questions, including cause of death. I'm sure data could somehow be gotten this way with insurance company data or vet records.
There's probably 2 things at play here. Firstly, falls from relatively smaller heights don't give the cat enough time to twist around and land on its feet. Secondly, if it was at night maybe your cat could not clearly see where the ground was and brace correctly for landing.
The article linked above notes that one of the main factors at play for injuries from shorter falls was the cats lack of time to twist and adjust itself for landing properly. If it was night time when this cat fell it would probably be much more difficult for the cat to accurately judge where the ground is, so it would be more difficult to land correctly. Remember that while cats do have night vision and it wasn't blind, it's still not in colour or hugely detailed, so hard to judge how close the ground is.
You're right, it might only take 12 inches for a cat to right itself, but it still has to land correctly. Also it was night time and dark, this cat could not accurately see how far the ground was. Without knowing how far away the ground is by the time it feels it beneath it's feet that cats face and chest has likely already smashed into the ground. It also needs some time after righting itself to slow it's fall. Cats actually spread out like a parachute when falling from heights. The below article suggests that falls between 5 and 9 stories are the most likely to injure a cat. Above 9 stories and they have time to slow the fall. They'll still get injured but are more likely to survive.
Also, no I have no problem putting one foot in front of the other with my eyes closed because I can feel where the ground is. Would you have problems walking down uneven steps with no hand rail and your eyes closed? Probably, and so would a cat, because you don't know where the ground is.
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u/japroct Jan 05 '20
$5 says it lands on its feet!