In his column about Falling Cats Cecil definitely has a point (but if he wears a hat no one will know) about dead cats not being reported to the Vet. But he ignores the corollary - cats that fell from great heights, lived, and were not reported to the Vet. My wife, prior to becoming Ms. 2na, lived on the 10th floor of an apartment building in New York’s Lower East Side. Her cat Nikolai like to sun himself on the sill of her open window. Then she looked one afternoon and he was gone. She took the elevator down, rushed out through the lobby, and around the building. There, in a bush, was Nikolai looking dazed, but completely unhurt. Instead of taking him to the Vet, she took him upstairs for extra treats. Admittedly, the bush probably broke his fall, but in the Vets’ report, a large percentage of the cats that were brought in required no medical attention. What about the cats that were not brought in because they seemed to be fine and the owner didn’t want to pay a Vet to tell her so?
I once lived on the 12th floor of a block of flats, and one night found a kitten on the stairway. The following morning, I’d opened the sliding door to my balcony for some fresh air, and gone into the kitchen to do a brew. When I re-entered the room, I spotted this ball of fluff darting around my living room, and just as I remembered finding it, I watched it run up onto the sofa, race along the length of it’s back towards the open door, and leap towards the balcony ledge.
I nearly dropped my drink and froze, as I expected to see it fly to it’s death, then let out my breath as I saw it gracefully land on a 2 inch ( MAX!) ledge, and begin calmly walking along it. Terrified of putting the little kitty off, I slowly made my way towards it, until I was near enough to snatch it up, take it indoors, and shut that bloody balcony door. Now, I’ve no idea if it would have survived the fall - 11 x 8ft = 88ft - but there was no way I was going to risk finding out, and I gave the kitten to an old lady who lived near my parents. Better safe than sorry.
edited to alter ; terrible math’s mistake. :smack: 
I saw down by the mall they have a skydiving-simulator which is basically a big fan that one hovers above and pretends to skydive.
Somebody needs to put a cat in one and make a video to settle this flying-squirrel thing.
Yeah, I was just about to post the same thing.
Which reminds me of a slightly similar experience. When I was living in India I had a 6th floor flat and lots of wall geckos running about. One day I cornered one and brushed it out the window. I watched in glee as it fell 60 feet to the ground, little legs and tail flailing about. The glee turned to disappointment when it landed a bit dazed, but otherwise in fine shape.
For about 2 second that is, until a hawk swooped down and snatched it up!