Ohhhh I was scared of this aspect of kitten life. And cat life in general… the Jumping!
Within 24 hours of adopting Franklin he discovered his ability to jump two feet into the air, latch onto the clothes hanging in the closet, and crawl up and onto the shelves, where he now enjoys looking over his kingdom from on high, and taking naps. As a dog mom, you can imagine how my heart pounded from the fear of He won't be able to get down without hurting himself! and the simple, utter shock of How the f*ck did he get up there??? It's scary and impressive.
Now, obviously, dogs can jump. And growing up with dogs, I saw them accomplish some very impressive jumping feats. BUT it usually took a few months before the puppies could do even the simplest jumps - like getting up on the couch - because their legs were short and they didn’t fully comprehend how fighting gravity worked. Sometimes it was hard enough to train a small pup to go up and down stairs.
I am aware of the jokes of cats getting on tables or shelves and knocking things over. I have seen the videos posted all over social media of cats accomplishing incredible jumps from one object to another (or, hysterically, miscalculating a jump and barely getting close, but I digress). What I did not realize was that kittens, unlike puppies, are already master jumpers at very very young ages.
Franklin was nine weeks old when we adopted him, and at nine weeks old he was able to jump up onto a counter three feet high. THREE FEET. Franklin was barely 12 inches from his butt to his head! How can a kitten so small jump so high?
The answer is science, obviously. (LOL) But boy oh boy was my mind blown watching him successfully jump from the kitchen floor and onto the kitchen counter. It makes me so nervous watching Franklin have that ability so young because he still does not comprehend what the word “No” means, so we are having to find other ways to explain that there are certain things he is allowed to jump on (chairs, bed, couch) and certain things he is NOT allowed to jump on (kitchen table, kitchen counter, and my treasured bookshelf, to name a few). With puppies, by the time they reach the age of being able to jump up 1-3 feet onto things, they have a good understanding of the word “No” even if they don’t want to follow what that word means. Franklin, on the other hand, barely knows his name is Franklin…
It scares me how impressive he is, and when he jumps on things he is allowed to jump on, I am so proud of my little fur baby. When he jumps on things he is not supposed to... Franklin is lucky he's such a little cutie pie.
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