Waffles, a bright orange cat, crouches on a snow-covered car, eyes a railing a short leap away and launches. The ice has other plans. Uploaded by Heavy Haul TV as Waffles The Terrible – Funny Cat Fails Epic Jump, the clip became one of the viral hits of December 2013, passing three million YouTube views within days.
Why Waffles’ jump went wrong
A cat’s jump starts in the back legs. The hind limbs provide most of the push at take-off and absorb most of the shock when moving between surfaces, and they also steer and brake. All of that depends on grip. On dry ground a cat pushes off through soft paw pads and can flex out its claws for extra traction; on a car roof glazed with ice, there is little for either to hold.
The result is a launch with less power than the cat intended, and a landing zone that is just as slippery. Viewers in icy places recognised the moment instantly: it is the same slip people make stepping out of the car on a frosty morning.
Explore more: Sophie at a snowy doorway; a separate account of kittens found outdoors.
Video: Waffles The Terrible - Funny Cat Fails Epic Jump (published by Heavy Haul TV).
How cats usually land on their feet
Cats are built for jumping and falling. They walk on their toes, which makes them extremely agile, and elastic discs between their vertebrae cushion hard landings. Their best-known trick is the righting reflex, which appears in kittens at three to four weeks and is perfected by six to nine weeks. In the air, a falling cat bends at the middle, tucks its front legs and stretches its back legs to rotate its front half, then reverses the move to turn its back half, all without breaking the law of conservation of angular momentum.
The reflex needs a little height to work, and it cannot fix a slip at the moment of take-off. That is why the clip is funny, not worrying: it is a short hop gone wrong, not a fall.
Winter safety tips for cat owners
The American Veterinary Medical Association’s cold-weather advice is simple:
- Keep cats indoors in cold weather; they can suffer frostbite and hypothermia.
- Check under the car, bang on the bonnet and sound the horn before starting the engine: outdoor cats like to shelter against warm engines.
- Clean up antifreeze spills at once, because even small amounts can be fatal, and keep cats away from areas treated with de-icers.
- Keep a collar with contact details and an up-to-date microchip, since snow hides the scents a lost cat uses to find its way home.
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