12 Answers
I'm assuming you mean house cats, and by falling hard you mean not a controlled fall. Cats are natural daredevils.
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They are pros at controlled falls. It's quite possible for a cat to survive at her terminal velocity of 60 miles per hour, as demonstrated by a study done on 132 cats falling an average of 5.5 stories, published in The Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 90% survived, albeit many requiring medical attention. The study suggested cats often have a better survival rate above a certain height due to their ability to relax and spread out more. In fact, only one of the 13 falling more than 9 stories broke a bone, and the cat that survived the longest fall, of 32 stories, was good to go in two days.
However, many a cat fall without the opportunity for "righting reflex". I remember the worst such fall my cat Luna has made...
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... was when she was lost in a cloth bag atop a 6 foot cabinet. I saw her rolling to the edge and shouted across the room (during a party) "Nooooooo!!!!" But she fell. Straight down. Onto a wood floor.
Was she screaming and crying in pain?
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No, she was not...
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She seemed a little dazed, but still cat-shaped. I patted her around, looking for some form of reaction, knowing cats instinctively hide injury. She seemed to check out fine, everywhere.
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There's a realization that I made over time. Cats have evolved to better survive accidents than other species. When a cat hunts prey, they are not trying to go for the jugular. They're just looking to trip their prey up, whether or not they go down with it. They know they're good at recovering very quickly. This ability also helps when they go down with nothing.
However, that does NOT mean it's a good idea to facilitate such accidents, or even large falls at all, controlled or not. Cat bones still break, even from smaller heights than Luna fell from. While cats do appreciate height, those perches should be sturdy, with an easy way down. Keep Luna's pals safe!
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EDIT:
There was concern in a comment that this "ground breaking research with cats" was done like this:
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Noooo... this was a study done on cats that were brought in for medical care. They were just studying accident reports, and not actually inducing "accidents".
They are pros at controlled falls. It's quite possible for a cat to survive at her terminal velocity of 60 miles per hour, as demonstrated by a study done on 132 cats falling an average of 5.5 stories, published in The Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 90% survived, albeit many requiring medical attention. The study suggested cats often have a better survival rate above a certain height due to their ability to relax and spread out more. In fact, only one of the 13 falling more than 9 stories broke a bone, and the cat that survived the longest fall, of 32 stories, was good to go in two days.
However, many a cat fall without the opportunity for "righting reflex". I remember the worst such fall my cat Luna has made...
... was when she was lost in a cloth bag atop a 6 foot cabinet. I saw her rolling to the edge and shouted across the room (during a party) "Nooooooo!!!!" But she fell. Straight down. Onto a wood floor.
Was she screaming and crying in pain?
No, she was not...
She seemed a little dazed, but still cat-shaped. I patted her around, looking for some form of reaction, knowing cats instinctively hide injury. She seemed to check out fine, everywhere.
There's a realization that I made over time. Cats have evolved to better survive accidents than other species. When a cat hunts prey, they are not trying to go for the jugular. They're just looking to trip their prey up, whether or not they go down with it. They know they're good at recovering very quickly. This ability also helps when they go down with nothing.
However, that does NOT mean it's a good idea to facilitate such accidents, or even large falls at all, controlled or not. Cat bones still break, even from smaller heights than Luna fell from. While cats do appreciate height, those perches should be sturdy, with an easy way down. Keep Luna's pals safe!
EDIT:
There was concern in a comment that this "ground breaking research with cats" was done like this:
Noooo... this was a study done on cats that were brought in for medical care. They were just studying accident reports, and not actually inducing "accidents".
Sometimes, the higher the fall, the safer. 1987, veterinarians at New York City’s Animal Medical Center did a study of cats that had fallen from tall buildings. 90% of them survived, though most sustained serious injuries. Of those, more than one-third needed life-saving treatment, while just under a third required no treatment. The study found that cats that fell from heights of 7 to 32 stories were less likely to die than those that fell from 2 to 6 stories.
The reason for this is based on several factors.
First, a higher fall gives a cat time to assume a "parachute" posture with it's limbs out so that it falls more slowly. Second, the cat has a vestibular mechanism in it's ears that act as it's compass. This is why cats will land right side up, the organ gives them a sense of which end is up, and that allows them to get into the parachute posture. Once a cat reaches it's maximum speed, that vestibular organ that makes them turn over in mid air and parachute shuts off, and the cat relaxes, and a relaxed fall is always safest. And finally, the cat's unique skeleton is capable of taking advantage of this relaxed parachute position and breaking the fall by "collapsing" through it's amazing flexibility. Anyone who has seen a cat change it's apparent size and shape at will knows for a fact cats are unusually flexible. This combination of a controlled fall, relaxed posture, and flexible skeleton give the cats amazing abilities to fall from significant heights.
That said, any fall from any height could be injurious if not fatal, so never intentionally encourage or force a cat to make one.
The reason for this is based on several factors.
First, a higher fall gives a cat time to assume a "parachute" posture with it's limbs out so that it falls more slowly. Second, the cat has a vestibular mechanism in it's ears that act as it's compass. This is why cats will land right side up, the organ gives them a sense of which end is up, and that allows them to get into the parachute posture. Once a cat reaches it's maximum speed, that vestibular organ that makes them turn over in mid air and parachute shuts off, and the cat relaxes, and a relaxed fall is always safest. And finally, the cat's unique skeleton is capable of taking advantage of this relaxed parachute position and breaking the fall by "collapsing" through it's amazing flexibility. Anyone who has seen a cat change it's apparent size and shape at will knows for a fact cats are unusually flexible. This combination of a controlled fall, relaxed posture, and flexible skeleton give the cats amazing abilities to fall from significant heights.
That said, any fall from any height could be injurious if not fatal, so never intentionally encourage or force a cat to make one.
Safe answer:
To guarantee no injury, don't drop cats from over a meter.
Exciting, don't-try-at-home hypothetical answer:
Cats have been known to survive falls at terminal velocity (unlimited height) onto concrete with only broken teeth! Shorter falls are actually more dangerous because the cat doesn't have time to spread out to limit speed and distribute the impact of the landing blow.
So to in order not to be injured at all, they would just need to land on sufficiently soft earth, or perhaps a hillside at an angle, and be lucky.
Others have asked and answered this and similar already:
How do cats survive falls of over 30 stories?
Can a cat survive a fall from an airplane at cruising altitude or more to the ground?
Why is it that a cat that accidentally falls from the top of a 50-story building hits a safety net below no faster than if it fell from the twentieth story?
What floor is the highest floor from which a cat can jump to the ground without risking its life?
To guarantee no injury, don't drop cats from over a meter.
Exciting, don't-try-at-home hypothetical answer:
Cats have been known to survive falls at terminal velocity (unlimited height) onto concrete with only broken teeth! Shorter falls are actually more dangerous because the cat doesn't have time to spread out to limit speed and distribute the impact of the landing blow.
So to in order not to be injured at all, they would just need to land on sufficiently soft earth, or perhaps a hillside at an angle, and be lucky.
Others have asked and answered this and similar already:
How do cats survive falls of over 30 stories?
Can a cat survive a fall from an airplane at cruising altitude or more to the ground?
Why is it that a cat that accidentally falls from the top of a 50-story building hits a safety net below no faster than if it fell from the twentieth story?
What floor is the highest floor from which a cat can jump to the ground without risking its life?
Like most small animals, cats have a non-fatal terminal velocity.
Cats can survive a drop from any height above 6 stories, because they would have sufficient time to prepare themselves for the landing. However, a drop from 4 or 5 stories may result in death, as the cat may not be able to land on its legs.
Despite this, it does not mean that you should drop your cat off your level 30 apartment. You cat would be taken away by the authorities, and there’s always the off chance that you cat really sucks as landing properly, since most domestic cats aren't exposed to activities like that. Feral cats will fare better.
I can't remember where I got this information, but my memory says it was either xkcd or QI. Both reliable sources.
So don’t worry Tessie- I’ll never throw you off anything!
My optical illusion cat- where's her fourth leg????
As it turns out, cats can survive falls at terminal velocity (the speed at which they stop accelerating due to air resistance). In fact, experience among vets in NYC is that there's a narrow range of heights that are actually high-risk for cats - heights where they are harmed because the fall is high, but they don't get the opportunity to relax their muscles properly to absorb the shock of the fall -- about 5-8 floors. More or less, and they generally survive. The current record in Manhattan is a 42-floor fall (which was survived with a chipped tooth).
Obligatory RadioLab reference: Taking the Plunge
Obligatory RadioLab reference: Taking the Plunge