Cats Balance Sense

Cats are agile and sure-footed climbers with a highly developed sense of balance. Their claws enable them to obtain a good grip while climbing and the tail is used as a counterbalance. The organs of balance are the fluid-filled, semicircular canals within the inner ear, from which information is continually conveyed to the brain and interpreted. The processing of all information relating to spatial position, nature of the surface on which the cat is climbing, visual data, etc, is very rapid.

Electrical signals are sent to appropriate groups of muscles so that a cat is able to move rapidly and keep its balance even in difficult circumstances. Of course, as is well known, cats do sometimes get into difficulties and have to be rescued from high places, being too afraid to attempt a descent. A cat may also sometimes misjudge the distance of a jump, or lose its balance for some other reason, and fall. If a fall occurs, a series of 'righting reflexes' rapidly come into play so that a cat usually lands in an upright position on its paws. This helps to lessen the risk of injury but cannot prevent it altogether, especially if the cat falls from a height onto a hard surface. However, cats are popularly believed to possess 'nine lives' and are well known for their remarkable escapes from tricky situations. The characteristics described above are mainly responsible for the supposed nine lives of a cat.

Cats balance sense is well known. It can jump from a substantial height and can land perfectly. Many a times, the cat suffers from injuries like bloody nose, broken ribs and cracked teeth. Still, the cats recover from these, even though it had jumped from a height. cat health tips are available here or you can consult the vet, if your cat is injured while jumping.

How the balance in cats is achieved?
Inner ear controls the balance of the cat by maintaining the equilibrium. Their small size and low body weight helps to land safely from a height. The inner ear is highly developed that it can determine the position, reposition accordingly and land properly on four paws. Cat adjusts its bodily features like it bends the legs while jumping, so that the bang or jerk when it reaches the ground is distributed all over the body. The cushioned paws help a lot in this process.

How the cat manages to walk on sleek platforms
Mostly all the animals from the cat family are very good at climbing trees, rocks and narrow surfaces. So there are many adaptations of the cat. The cats use their tail to achieve the equilibrium and walk on a narrow surface. By any chance, if the cat falls from a greater height, it stretches the legs, thus increasing the friction against air. It reduces the speed and the cat can land perfectly.

One will be surprised to know the fact that the cats are injured up to a large extent when they fall or jump from a less height than a pretty large height.

Why this happens? This happens because when the cat falls from a low height, it can’t coordinate all the activities in less time span. The activities like expanding the body area by stretching legs, reducing the speed and adjusting the legs for a perfect landing cannot be achieved in a short span of time.

Some people think that cat has 9 lives. But the fact is that it is just a myth. The fact is that a cat is blessed with such bodily features that help to maintain the balancing sense.