High Rise Condo Cat Syndrome. Trauma in cats due to the so-called feline high-rise syndrome. High-rise syndrome is a term that was coined in the early 1980s when an animal treatment center in New York City Animal Medical Center treated over a hundred cats during a five month period that had fallen out of a high-rise.
High rise syndrome refers to the common set of injuries that cats may sustain when they fall from high places. High-rise syndrome was diagnosed in 132 cats over a 5-month period. Ninety percent of the cats had some form of thoracic trauma.
According to the ASPCA high-rise syndrome is the very real danger of cats falling to the ground from especially high places -- typically balconies as well as windows that do not have screens.
The cats had significant injuries such as head and facial injuries broken legs and chest trauma. Cases of high-rise syndrome tend to spike during warm weather months when windows. High rise syndrome refers to the common set of injuries that cats may sustain when they fall from high places. Once cats climb on top of buildings and other high rise structures antennae water towers etc they either get stuck or find it difficult to climb down.
