Can cats get out of 2nd storey windows?

[YellowHighHeels]

Bit of a mystery! We have 2 gorgeous boys who are allowed out in the day and evening but stay in at night as we haven't had a cat flap fitted yet. The only windows open at night (only slightly but as we know, cats are composed of liquid) are on the top floor of a 3 storey house. Vertical drop. No drainpipe in reach of windows.

Now, 2 mornings this week, we have found the younger and less predictable cat outside in the morning. I have no idea how he got there. I get up first. No kids/lodger or other means of exit.

We are as certain as can be that he was in at night the second time. We assumed first time he must've slipped back out when bringing the other in but I'm actually not sure.

Would a young, fit cat be able to just exit via a 2nd storey window without seemingly injuring himself at all?? Are they even known to try?

Ours once fell from a second floor balcony and was unharmed.

Close the windows & see if he gets out again.

I’ve got https://www.flatcats.co.uk/ screens on mine, just in case.

Yes and yes! I've got a video of my dickhead cat scaling the house using the wall and it's claws. Menace. Total menace 🤣.

I've known cats get out of top floor windows and get onto the roof. Is that possible? Are there lower roofs accessible for the cat to reach the ground?

Yes, I called cats protection where I adopted my cat in a panic as they'd told me to keep him inside for 2 weeks, but they'd failed to tell him and he launched himself out of the windows.

They said by that point just quit and let him out.

It would not suprise me! The neighbours cat came into our house and jumped from a 2nd floor window diagonally up to the flat roof of what would be the third floor and sat up there for ages and eventually jumped back down again.

Yes, easily. One of mine once climbed out of the bathroom window, up on to the roof and on to the chimney

I got them too, as soon as I realised Penelope can climb. They are brilliant

Never underestimate a cat.

My girl went out of an open window two storeys up, walked along the window sill and jumped onto the flat roof. We only realised when she was shouting on the flat roof and wanted back in

One of our cats has done this. It looked so bizarre seeing him on the roof, I was terrified! He got down fine thankfully.

I startled a neighbour's cat who had got into my house and was having a kip on the bed in the back bedroom. She leapt from the open window onto the 6ft fencepost supporting the fence between our gardens, balancing all 4 paws on top of the post bit like a cartoon cat, before elegantly dropping into their garden. They are very acrobatic and athletic and are all related to Houdini, so yes I bet they got out without difficulty and without harm!
(BTW I did like next doors cat, she was cute, and a welcome visitor, but neither of us expected to see the other in the bedroom!)

Yes!

Yes, I was washing up one day to see our idiot cat sail past the window from the open upstairs window then saunter down the road like nothing had happened.

Good lord this is terrifying!! I was expecting to be told no way, I must have made a mistake at bedtime. If he is secretly very good at geometry, there is a pointed garage roof below the back window which I suppose could be about a halfway point if he aimed it right. Didn't think of that. Thanks for the screen links, I'll look into those!

The other thing to think about is what's above the window? Can he get on to the window ledge and go up anywhere - on to another roof or pole or up a drainpipe? They're surprisingly agile!

Our cat is nicknamed Miss Houdini for obvious reasons.

One trick is to jump from first floor windows (top) and strut unscathed afterwards: or to stroll across the roof and then jump down. Massively freaks out Eldest. We've learnt to keep all windows shut unless the door to the room is locked.

Yes, cats are excellent at trigonometry. And jumping.

They are pretty resourceful climbers. I've been woken by my cat who climbed into my bedroom window at night, he went from a garden wall to a conservatory roof and then leapt onto our window.

I’m in a second floor flat & I foster, so mine absolutely have to stay inside. The flat cat screens are great because they come cut to the size you want & stick to the window frames with Velcro, so they’re really easy to put up by yourself and you just pull the Velcro apart to reach the window handles.

Most of mine also enjoy climbing the netting & none of them have managed to break it so far!

Yes. Childhood cat brought nextdoors sausages home via an upstairs window. Scared the crap out of my parents when he dropped them in their bed. Getting in or out was not a problem!

Yes, they can easily. However they’re also masters of slipping out when you think you’ve got them in, so he might well have slipped past you closing the door too.

I don't know about climbing out of 2nd floor windows but I definitely had a cat climb in a 2nd floor window. I was living top floor bedroom of a townhouse and one day a cat just randomly climbed in through my window, trotted out of the room and made camp on the 1st floor landing. My housemates thought I had lost the plot when I was talking to something to get it to go downstairs and out the door. No flat rooves, line of terraced houses so either came out of 2nd floor or up the wall. Ridiculous creatures.

My very young (at the time) girl was being kept inside post-neutering, and managed to escape through the absolute tiniest crack in a 3rd floor bathroom window to allow shower steam out. She strolled in completely unharmed two days later - fortunately before I ripped up the decking because I was convinced she must be injured and hiding under there 😂

That’s hilarious! What happened next?