Normal or just uncoordinated?

Hi All,

Wanted to share something I've been noticing lately.

Mr Leo is almost 5 months now and has only just realised he can jump up onto the kitchen counter (I wasn't looking forward to this). Anyways, Leo has always been an active kitten but never a huge jumper. Recently he's been trying to jump from bed to bedside tables, surface to surface and more recently counter to floor. There's no elegance there when he jumps though and rarely lands on his feet.

I can't remember if my older cats were like this but I'm guessing he will find his landing balance and elegance somewhere down the track. I keep picking him up off benchtops and putting him on the floor because otherwise it's like a drop. It's like he doesn't brace for the landing. Poor baby.

Has anyone else got or had a kitty who is or was like this?

Also, he fully tears up the hallway after me and slides around like crazy. I'm always getting whacked into by a flying kitten haha. I need to stop walking so I don't step on him as he hurtles past my legs. Again it's that not bring able to control his legs yet thing, I think.

He walks fine though, nothing wrong there. I'm hoping he is still developing his reflexes.

Any thoughts?

Our one girl, Tilly is still like this at 18 months.
Some days she can make the counter with one leap then leaps up onto the cupboard top above the counter in almost one movement.
The next day she will not make the counter top and ends up in a heap on the floor!!

She can also fall over her own paws whilst walking across an un-obstructed room.

All the others (including Little Dot) are all fine. I mentioned it to the vet and he said that not all cats are trapeze artists!!

I always insure my kittens for the first year & then after that put money into a savings account for them but the last two babes I did it for longer as one of them had no sense of fear & was uncoordinated,he would fly down the hall be unable to stop & land in a heap with legs all akimbo,he finally learnt that if he couldn't stop then if he lept up the door he could push himself off at an angle to tear back again but then when he got to the corner he would just go splatt onto his side,I have a Tigga Tower & when he was no age at all he would jump from floor right into the top bed{ & that is pretty high} in one go but of course we had the occasions when he misjudged the jump & would either finish hanging onto the side waiting to be rescued or end up in that undignified heap on the floor, a leap from the bed to the windowsill successfully accomplished one day the next a chin banged on the edge & another unplanned trip to the floor,I think they are like us some can get it together fine others take longer,at the age of three I felt it safe enough to start putting the money into the bank instead of insuring him but I always dread the day he could end up with a broken leg,not happened yet & he is a lot better now but still wouldn't hold my breath because just when you think he has cracked it something happens to make you change your mind,so you could be avoiding your Mr Leo for a good while yet...x

We often hear loud thumps and crashes where Mufasa thinks he's smaller or more agile than he is lol!

Anyone who owns a MC can just imagine it....x

My Leo is much the same and it was about 5 or 6 months before my three even realised they could jump *onto* things that weren't their cat tree. And this is how I think Dicky hurt his tail - probably missed and fell on his butt.

PS Limp tail all gone now - took a while, but the flagpole is at full mast ;)

Elvis was extremely uncoordinated until he hit 1 1/2 years or so.

Tripping, stumbling, falling off of things.

He's getting a lot better now that his bones aren't growing faster than the rest of him.

He can jump from the floor to the top of the refrigerator with room to spare almost effortlessly.

It's my understanding that the boys are big klutzes until they grow into their bodies, My Samantha by contrast was was extremely agile in spite of her large (17lbs) size.
She could leap to the top of the 6 foot bookcase from the floor and was a champion "Mouseball" player.

Thanks all! You've put my mind at ease to know it's pretty common.
That money in the bank account idea is good!!! I hope I don't end up with broken bones and injured butts, though! Haha scratched eyes and cat sniffles are enough for the vet to know me as a regular lately.

Now that he can jump up onto the counter I can't hide my adults dinners up there out of the way of greedy guts aka Leo :(

I wonder whether sometimes he misjudges distances or if he is just aiming too high at his age...

His body is growing faster then his brain can adjust for, he's like a teenage boy going through a growth spurts except it's literally happening overnight.
They start out all ears and paws, then their limbs catch up and finally they fill out, last thing to grow up is their kitten brain and some male Maine Coons never grow up they remain over-sized kittens their whole lives, that one of the many reason they're so beloved as wonderful family pets.
The girls on the other hand are dignified and gracious, very loving and gentle but maybe not so demonstrative as the boys, they are also breathtakingly beautiful and well aware of this fact.