Has anyone ever figured out a housecats top speed?
If so, how fast?
As a service, I will take my cat out to the local Feline Proving Grounds and put her through a series of time trials and use sophisticated Swiss automatic timers to find out how fast he goes.
Right now, looking at my cat, I estimate her speed to be 0.
I would be surprised if a cat could get over 20 mph, but that’s just a WAG.
The Mr and I were just discussing that the other day. Our two can really haul when they’re chasing each other or a bug, or an imaginary something.
Isn’t there a cat-owning cop somewhere among the teeming mils who has access to a radar gun?
I’m also amazed at the amount of noise they make running. How can a couple of 8 pound kitties sound like a herd of horses???
I’m beginning to suspect that 30 MPH is the default speed that sources quote for any animal, when they don’t actually know the top speed: A decent racehourse can do 30 MPH over the course of a mile (OK, that one’s actually clocked). Elephants walk at up to 30 MPH. According to the folks at Yellowstone, bison and moose charge at 30 MPH when angered. Now, we hear that this is the speed of a running housecat, as well. Somehow, this seems rather a coincidence, to me, as if 30 MPH is just shorthand for “faster than a running human, but we’ve never actually measured it”.
Uhh, no offense, but maybe you should hold off on that speed test and first figure out the sex of your cat. It seems to have you befuddled.
-Just kidding-
I’m doubting that 30 MPH figure too. I don’t have data to dismiss that figure, but it does seem odd that so many animals could have the same top speed.
Anyrate, the reason I ask is that I was watching yet another nature show that had an annoucer marvel at the top speed of the cheetah- something like 65 MPH in a short burst.
Considering my ‘Z’ was buzzing around the apartment at that same time, the obvious question to submit to the SDMB was born.
Anyone else have an idea?