My cat jumping to the top of a fence post.

[arcadian]

Is like the equivalent of me jumping to the top of a four story building. That is just insane. So why can't I do that?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear arcadian...

You're too big! I think that's the reason...

What a hell of a jump that would be, huh?

:hi:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Look at your cat's thighs.

They are huge and muscular. In order for you to be able to jump as high as a cat (relative to your size), your thighs would have to be enormous. Do you really want that?

(I actually have enormous thighs, but they are just blubber. I can barely jump over a door jamb.)

[HopeHoops]

3. My late Garfield could go directly from the floor to the top of the refrigerator.

He made it seem like it took no effort at all. I'm pretty sure he had the longest legs of any cat I've ever known, and he was a formidable creature.

He once pulled away the wood blocking the side of a window air conditioner and made it 15 feet to the ground - without injury. I figured he pulled one of those Pink Panther things (reference: the shack in the way of the telescope) by running down the bricks and launching himself horizontally at the last minute.

[mike_c]

4. it's one of the advantages of small body size....

Low mass animals require less force to jump than high mass animals, and their effectors and support structures-- muscle, bone, and other connective tissue-- can handle the load. You'd be MASSIVELY heavy with equivalent musculature, and the weight of your own muscles would overtax your cardiovascular system, need additional support (become aquatic), and so on.