Thread: Jump or Climb?

MC males are not great jumpers in general, but I will note that hip dysplasia can be an issue for MCs, which is why all responsible breeders should be testing for it in their breeding cats. I would suggest you make certain this isn't the cause of his behavior. It can be evaluated with xrays.

Here are some links I know of:
MCBFA Health Issues
Hip Dysplasia in Cats: Winn Feline Foundation
PennHIP Home

Gryfn usually climbs, but if he can't then he happily will jump.

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments. Larry's jumping has improved, he seems to be able to judge it a bit better and now he jumps fairly cleanly onto the kitchen chairs/my lap. Monty though, is something else! He's so big, long and strong, jumping onto the counters is nothing at all to him and he can do it in a split second. I wonder, if he were to jump to his limit, how high it would be! (Don't really want to test him on that, though!) I think Larry has been watching his brother and thinking, hmm, I want to do that too...

They are nearly 6 months old now and the boisterousness has gone up a gear. We have a grand piano and a stack of guitar amps, and they've started to jump from the top of the amps onto the piano lid - eeek!!!! Who needs a kitten tree, eh?

The cats bedroom "was" known as the music room & like you Howlinbob it is pretty full of speakers,amps & on the wall a couple of acoustic guitars that we occasionly hear a non melodic twang from but the best time is when the drum kit gets put up & boy do they have fun then,everything from cymbals to bass drum is fair game & that does become a cats climbing frame.....

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

the best time is when the drum kit gets put up & boy do they have fun then,everything from cymbals to bass drum is fair game & that does become a cats climbing frame.....

Wow Jackie wouldn't I love to hear that! 6 MCs on a drum kit! Next time they have a session maybe you could record it and post the sample on the forum - now there's a challenge!

Originally Posted by Howlinbob

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments. Larry's jumping has improved, he seems to be able to judge it a bit better and now he jumps fairly cleanly onto the kitchen chairs/my lap.

Good to hear Leaping Larry's in town now. Maybe it's a confidence thing - Freyja's a couple of weeks younger than your babes and in the first month she was with us she seemed to get to have to psych herself up for a jump and then completely misjudge it and fall off/ not make it. I started to get a bit worried and decided I'd mention it to the vet if it was still a problem when she went back for her next weigh in, but she's got much more confident and her judgement is now pretty good. A bit like Larry, she also used to ask if she could get up on my lap or the sofa and I'd have to give her the nod first - now she just hops up without giving a second thought and barges whatever I'm doing out of the way!

Originally Posted by FreyjaRoMaine

Good to hear Leaping Larry's in town now.

Haha! He certainly is! Still likes to attempt a leg climb if I'm not on my guard with the dishcloth, but he never gets further than my knee these days... phew!

If hubby leaves drum kit up in there again will see what I can do....!
Now the babes have grown up & with the others 9kg plus cats hurling around things had started to go flying but one day could have the MC drummers instead of a cats choir.

Buddy is definately a climber and as others have seen on his FB status's he encountered a ladder a few weeks back and had to be rescued :( In all honestly I don't think I have ever seen him jump more than a foot, he seems to climb up and down everything, outside walls included.

Samantha was an amazing jumper, she would jump to the nightstand and from there to the top of my armoire where she liked to sleep, to get down she would leap onto the bed like a 4 year old, rather shocking when she did it in the middle of the night, nothing like 17lbs of MMC landing on you to rouse your from a deep slumber.
One of her favorite games when she was young was mouse ball, when we lived in the apartment and I was on the porcelain throne she would bring me a rattle mouse and I would try to toss it past her, this was almost impossible as she could leap 5 feet in the air and snag the mouse on a single claw.
Good times, she was very proud of herself and I would give her great praise and she would glow with Kitty Joy.
I've never know another cat that responded so well to praise.