Ben Madilynn
A Montreal family was left distraught and shaken as their two-year-old family cat Luigi miraculously survived an 11-storey fall in St. Laurent.
Owner Eva Abdul Khalek said she is grateful her cat survived from what her and her family say is a miracle. She believes the cat snuck out, likely through the balcony door that was left open.
“When I tried to pick him up his upper body was normal, he could move it, but the lower body was very… It was very heavy,” Khalek said. “And when I tried to pick him up he was kind of screaming because he was in pain.”
After being rushed to the hospital and being left with a $7,000 medical bill. The family is looking to their community to help with the costs, as Khalek is financing the bill herself and is now fundraising online for help.
She says she would jump at helping him immediately because he’s more than just a pet.
“He sleeps next to me at night, when I wake up he follows me everywhere and he brings me a lot of joy,” she said. “It’s basically like a kid in the house.”
WATCH: Luigi the cat recovers from his injuries after surviving 11-storey fall
Her mother Manal Chehayeb was trying to find Luigi on the night he fell, saying it’s the first time this has happened. She said once she realized he was on the ground, she rushed to his aid.
“He was waiting for me in the front of the building where there’s light, like I can see him and he was so soft when I took him, I knew that there’s something wrong,” Chehayeb said. “He wasn’t breathing well, he was crying, so I went right away and woke up my daughter to see what could we do.”
Khalek says the veterinarian offered to euthanize Luigi, but she opted for the surgery to fix his broken bones and shattered pelvis.
Dr. Maggie Brown-Bury, a small animal veterinarian on the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association council, which serves as a unified voice for vets across the country, says Luigi’s story is common.
She said cats falling from heights is referred to as high rise syndrome, a phenomenon where cats get injuries when falling from high place. She adds the survival rate in most cases is over 90 per cent.
“Cats tend to do a little bit better than dogs do, if it’s like a straight fall and they don’t hit anything on the way down,” Brown-Bury said. “If you look at the literature around this, they will talk about reasons they might not survive and one of them is impalement, which, if you fall on something sharp then your survival chances are much less.”
Brown-Bury says at Luigi’s height and point of impact, the cat’s terminal velocity, meaning how fast they go down, is 100 kilometres per hour.
Khalek encourages Montrealers to always watch over their furry friends and said Luigi does have nine lives, as he is now recovering and healing from his wounds.
“For now what we’re doing is really just keep everything shut, the door and the windows,” she said. “Everything has to be shut, especially if you have cats. For dogs it’s a little bit more safe, they don’t jump as much, but cats are sneaky.”
Two-year-old Luigi following a series of surgeries after surviving an 11-storey fall in St. Laurent. (Submitted by: Eva Abdul Khalek)
