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I followed the links to the original sources.

Your first one comes from "The Straight Dope". It's an entertaining place for odd facts, but I would not treat it as a primary source. In any case, when we read about Cecil's attempts to clear the matter, we eventually reach this point:

>I called the Animal Medical Center to see if this possibility had been considered. The original authors were long gone, so I spoke to Dr. Michael Garvey, head of the medical department and current expert on “high-rise syndrome.”

Dr. Garvey was adamant that the omission of nonreported fatalities didn’t skew the statistics. He pointed out that cats that had fallen from great heights typically had injuries suggesting they’d landed on their chests, which supports the “flying squirrel” hypothesis.

So while technically true that this point was raised in the not-entirely-primary-source article, it was pretty much dismissed by the expert interviewed for that same article. When pressed, apparently Dr. Garvey allowed that reasonable people could disagree, but the fact that the expert falls on the "it's wrong" side, this point should probably be taken with suspicious eyes.

Your second one is more interesting. There have been different studies over the years and in some of them, we do get reports of more serious injuries in cats falling from higher places. In others, there is a dramatic decrease in injuries. As far as I was able to gather in a cursory look through the data, this is still a completely open question as to which data is more representative. Perhaps someone has a metastudy on this.

The nature of the injuries changes dramatically, though. At higher distances, cats can prepare themselves, get righted, and loosen up their legs for landing. The injuries tend to be more in their chest cavity. At shorter distances, the injuries tend to be more of the "broken limb" variety.

Classic Adrenalin junkie, spreading his legs to slow down to get the most of the jump.

I would say it is on the *low* side of safe. The higher up a cat jumps, the more time it has to relax and prepare for landing.

I have no idea why you got downvotes; the eye shape thing is spot on.

Correct. They are not apex predators, so they have to keep their heads on a swivel and check their 6; but not only are the predators, they are obligate carnivores.

Cats are notable for how well they can hide pain. I would be curious if there are other animals that do this as well or better than cats, because I am not aware of any.

Some Redditors weren’t alive when this gif was made.

Brought it on itself.

Definitely avoiding the person with the camera

I know that walk, thats the "that fucking hurt" walk

D… DPs you say?…

no lives were wasted in that jump lol. cats know how to jump from heights that high up. its a special thing going with its core muscles and legs + making themselves parachute in a way.

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r/WhyWereTheyFilming would probably solve the debate

The confusion I think is people say 8bit in terms of the console generation. So the image does have less than 256 colours. But an 8bit machine like a nes or master system could not display that.

It’s cool pixel art either way.

Looked legit freaked out though so might have been 'this is faster to safety'.

Also there's just this tiny little thing that we might consider in such a discussion about the nature o- THEY EAT MEAT WITH THEIR BIG POINTY TEETH!!!

XD

Even their eye shape makes them predator. Prey animals have a wider field of vision with sideways pupils. Predators have the vertical for help in depth perception and light capture. Ofc it's not for all of either but generally if it's forward set eyes and round or vertical slit it's a predator. Just best for hunting moving prey.

Look at Mr. Moneybags here with two floors in their house.

The way the cat is moving before the jump and also the tail seems down and fluffy. Seems like it was already stressed or spooked before it yeeted itself over the edge.

Hilarious in a couple ways:

1. If we're classifying animals as one or the other, cats are absolutely predators.

2. You're suggesting that animals don't want to appear vulnerable because they are prey, which implies that predators operate differently.

Not saying your advice is bad, but the logic seems pretty shoddy.

PARKOUR!

Like a dog chasing cars

I would have been horrified and so upset to see my own cat do that. Even if it landed on its feet, that's a heck of a drop!!!