{"id":688102,"date":"2025-02-04T15:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T15:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/?p=688102"},"modified":"2025-02-07T19:46:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T19:46:05","slug":"from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/","title":{"rendered":"From Fierce to Floppy: Science Finally Explains Why Cats Fall Over in Harnesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all been guilty of it at one time or another. That moment of Schadenfreude when we see a cat do something uncoordinated or embarrassing. Perhaps it\u2019s because it happens so rarely, or because it\u2019s usually us, the bumbling humans, that are being silently mocked by feline onlookers. A more common opportunity for us to quietly enjoy the misfortune of our much-loved cat is when we first introduce them to a harness. Of course, there are those who take on this equipment with nary a hint of hesitation, but for others, the application of a harness renders the normally graceful and agile feline into a rigid, wobbly, or vertically challenged mess.<\/p>\n

Over the years, many theories have been postulated to explain why a harness, vest, or jumper should rob a cat of their motor function, and to be fair, these theories seem quite reasonable. However, we recently learned<\/a> of a study from 2012 that may actually explain the phenomenon.<\/p>\n

Why a Harness Causes Cats to Fall Over: The Theories<\/h2>\n

Prior to our discovery, the leading theories explaining why harnesses make some cats fall over included:<\/p>\n

Fight, Flight, and Freeze:<\/strong> The idea that a harness presents the cat with some unknown threat has many believing that the rigid response is part of their instinctive fight, flight, or freeze reaction to danger.<\/p>\n

Pressure Points:<\/strong> This theory suggests that the harness stimulates certain pressure points that are commonly associated with a mother cat carrying her young. It may also trigger a \u2018play dead\u2019 reaction in response to being picked up by a predator.<\/p>\n

The Wrong Fit: <\/strong>A harness that is too large or too small may interfere with movement.<\/p>\n

*WARNING<\/div>
\n

The content discussed below includes a study that may be distressing to cat lovers. While we do not support the methods used, we acknowledge the impact it had on neurological research for both cats and humans. Although the methods and study design adhered to ethical guidelines, it is not an experiment we would endorse. It no doubt has many implications in neurological medicine for both humans and animals but does not make for pleasant reading.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\"cat
Image Credit: Akifyeva S, Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Scientific Explanation<\/h2>\n

We know that cats are extraordinarily flexible, fast, agile, and acrobatic. From their preternaturally rapid reflexes to their ability to always land on their feet<\/a>, feline mobility and coordination have always been the subject of curiosity. We recently uncovered a study<\/a>*<\/strong> that looked into how much of that feline coordination comes from the brain, and how much is controlled by spinal reflexes alone, with some fascinating results.<\/p>\n

By surgically separating the brain from the spinal cord, scientists found that cats could still walk on a treadmill with coordinated hind limb function when the appropriate motor nerves were electrically stimulated. The experiment proved that in addition to higher brain function, feline movement and coordination were governed by direct somatosensory feedback<\/strong> \u2013 that is, the body was able to maintain a balanced and coordinated gait based purely on touch.<\/p>\n

The Sixth Sense (not that<\/em> Sixth Sense)<\/h2>\n

This somatosensory feedback mechanism functions almost like a sixth sense, providing cats with an additional unconscious way to move and react to their environment, which explains how they can do the things they do. However, when we put something over their body, it would be the equivalent of placing a blindfold over their eyes. A cat is unlikely to be consciously aware of this sixth sense, but it will be a shock to the system when it is suddenly obscured. But, just as a cat will eventually adapt to a lack of sight, they will also adapt to their altered somatosensory input, and once they have learned to do this, it too becomes a reflex whenever the harness is put back on.<\/p>\n

\"black
Image Credit: alexgo.photography, Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Is It Cruel to Put a Harness on My Cat?<\/h2>\n

Not at all. Unless your cat is particularly distressed by the harness or shows no sign of adjusting to wearing one, once your cat becomes accustomed to the harness<\/a>, they should be able to enjoy their newfound (relative) freedom without impediment.<\/p>\n

What you don\u2019t<\/strong> want to do is:<\/div>
\n
    \n
  • <\/i> not allow your cat enough time to get used to the harness<\/li>\n
  • <\/i> laugh at your cat \u2013 they are very <\/em>sensitive creatures and know exactly whose shoes to poop in.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We\u2019ve all been guilty of it at one time or another. That moment of Schadenfreude when we see a cat do something uncoordinated or embarrassing. Perhaps it\u2019s because it happens so rarely, or because it\u2019s usually us, the bumbling humans, that are being silently mocked by feline onlookers. A more common opportunity for us to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3889,"featured_media":688130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[699],"tags":[459,449],"class_list":["post-688102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weekly-mews","tag-catster-homepage-3-posts","tag-discovery"],"yoast_head":"\nFrom Fierce to Floppy: Science Finally Explains Why Cats Fall Over in Harnesses - Catster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over the years, many theories have been postulated to explain why cats fall over in harnesses. A new study may finally have the answer...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Fierce to Floppy: Science Finally Explains Why Cats Fall Over in Harnesses - Catster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the years, many theories have been postulated to explain why cats fall over in harnesses. A new study may finally have the answer...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/catster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-04T15:00:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-07T19:46:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Catster_Weekly-Mews_from-fierce-to-floppy-cats-in-harnesses-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1463\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Karyn Kanowski BVSc MRCVS (Veterinarian)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@catster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@catster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dr. Karyn Kanowski BVSc MRCVS (Veterinarian)\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"From Fierce to Floppy: Science Finally Explains Why Cats Fall Over in Harnesses - Catster","description":"Over the years, many theories have been postulated to explain why cats fall over in harnesses. A new study may finally have the answer...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"From Fierce to Floppy: Science Finally Explains Why Cats Fall Over in Harnesses - Catster","og_description":"Over the years, many theories have been postulated to explain why cats fall over in harnesses. A new study may finally have the answer...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/","og_site_name":"Catster","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/catster\/","article_published_time":"2025-02-04T15:00:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-07T19:46:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1463,"url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Catster_Weekly-Mews_from-fierce-to-floppy-cats-in-harnesses-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dr. Karyn Kanowski BVSc MRCVS (Veterinarian)","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@catster","twitter_site":"@catster","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dr. Karyn Kanowski BVSc MRCVS (Veterinarian)","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/"},"author":{"name":"Dr. Karyn Kanowski BVSc MRCVS (Veterinarian)","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#\/schema\/person\/42af2430a13d723c532fa3c6ce6aebee"},"headline":"From Fierce to Floppy: Science Finally Explains Why Cats Fall Over in Harnesses","datePublished":"2025-02-04T15:00:39+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-07T19:46:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/"},"wordCount":778,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Catster_Weekly-Mews_from-fierce-to-floppy-cats-in-harnesses-scaled.jpg","keywords":["catster-homepage-3-posts","discovery"],"articleSection":["Weekly Mews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/","name":"From Fierce to Floppy: Science Finally Explains Why Cats Fall Over in Harnesses - Catster","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Catster_Weekly-Mews_from-fierce-to-floppy-cats-in-harnesses-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-04T15:00:39+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-07T19:46:05+00:00","description":"Over the years, many theories have been postulated to explain why cats fall over in harnesses. A new study may finally have the answer...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Catster_Weekly-Mews_from-fierce-to-floppy-cats-in-harnesses-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Catster_Weekly-Mews_from-fierce-to-floppy-cats-in-harnesses-scaled.jpg","width":2048,"height":1463,"caption":"Catster_Weekly Mews_from fierce to floppy cats in harnesses"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/weekly-mews\/from-fierce-to-floppy-science-finally-explains-why-cats-fall-over-in-harnesses\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Weekly Mews","item":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/category\/weekly-mews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"From Fierce to Floppy: Science Finally Explains Why Cats Fall Over in Harnesses"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/","name":"Catster","description":"Cat Care Guides and Shop by Veterinarians and Experts","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#organization","name":"Catster","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Catster-picture.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Catster-picture.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Catster"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/catster\/","https:\/\/x.com\/catster","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/catstermag\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@CatsterOfficial","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Catster"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#\/schema\/person\/42af2430a13d723c532fa3c6ce6aebee","name":"Dr. Karyn Kanowski BVSc MRCVS (Veterinarian)","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/90920f4c57e923d2904a1ab2d5589c3f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/90920f4c57e923d2904a1ab2d5589c3f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Dr. Karyn Kanowski BVSc MRCVS (Veterinarian)"},"description":"Dr. Karyn comes from Queensland, Australia, and has lived in the UK for the past 10 years. In 2010, she graduated from The University of Queensland School of Veterinary Science and also has a Bachelor\u2019s degree in Zoology. She is passionate about using evidence, experience, and owner collaboration to provide the best solutions for pets, and believes in making reliable information about animal health accessible to all. Dr. Karyn shares her home with five cats, four dogs, and one husband. When she is not in the scrubs, she spends her time writing, gardening, and cleaning up pet hair!","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/author\/dr-karyn-kanowski-bvsc-mrcvs-veterinarian\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Catster Editorial Team","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3889"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688102"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":688428,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688102\/revisions\/688428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}