A curious cat in Australia may have just burned through several of his nine lives after surviving a heart-stopping fall from an apartment balcony 14 stories above the ground.
Mont Blanc, a 9-month-old cat in Melbourne, somehow lived after plunging from his owner’s high-rise apartment and landing in a bush below. Even the vet who treated him reportedly called it the highest cat fall she had ever seen.
The terrifying incident began when Mont Blanc’s owner, Tim Aupanno, left the balcony door slightly open before heading to work. He wanted the cat to be able to use the bathroom while he was gone.
But when Aupanno came home, Mont Blanc was nowhere to be found.
Heartbroken and panicked, he spent 18 hours searching around the apartment building, fearing the worst. Then, incredibly, a neighbor on the sixth floor heard meowing coming from a ledge outside her apartment.
That sound led rescuers straight to Mont Blanc.
When the cat was finally reunited with his owner, the moment was emotional.
“He ran and hugged me and [was] crying, complaining where have you been? I’ve been here for so long,” Aupanno told 7News.
Mont Blanc was rushed to Lort Smith Animal Hospital, where vets discovered he had suffered only a minor lung puncture from the massive fall.
“It is a miracle. Thank God,” Aupanno said. “I was crying.”
Kassandra Makeham of Lort Smith told 7News that Mont Blanc’s survival was stunning.
“It’s definitely the highest fall we’ve seen,” she said.
Makeham explained that cats have a natural ability to twist their bodies midair when they fall, helping them try to control the landing as much as possible.
Still, falling from that height and surviving with such limited injuries is nothing short of incredible.
Aupanno said he will now keep the balcony door firmly closed so Mont Blanc does not get the chance to test fate again.
After the dramatic plunge, he joked that his lucky cat has probably already used up “half of his nine lives.”
Very poor story writing! He supposedly fell 14 stories, yet he was found on a ledge on the 6th floor; was the bush he landed in on a balcony on the 6th floor, or did he fall to the first floor and start climbing back up to his owner’s apartment? So was his owner’s apartment on the 14th floor, or the 20th floor? Did anyone actually see the cat fall?