Oscar, an adorable rescue cat, has the longest jump for a feline with his eight-feet leaps
If you’ve ever had to protect your objects because your cat likes to fly around the house… just be glad that they don’t have the springing skills of Oscar!
This adorable seven-year-old rescue cat from Dallas, Texas, USA, can do some crazy hops due to the training of his owner, Theodore Shiells.
Oscar can leap an incredible 8 ft 5 in (2.58 m), claiming the record for longest jump by a cat.
“Oscar is a very smart cat and likes learning tricks (sit, beg, fetch, etc.),” said Theodore. “About two years ago, he expanded his repertoire by jumping... horizontally, of course!
“Beginning with a jump of just a few inches, he soon progressed to a few feet, and then through a hoop. This was very cute, of course, but there was not the slightest thought at this of a world record!”
Theodore says Oscar is a very resilient cat, and he came into their lives when he was injured, scavenging for food, and had a 50/50 chance of survival due to heartworm disease.
But he quickly “proved as tough as he is handsome”, said Theodore, and he soon blossomed into a healthy, mischievous little kitty under his family’s loving care.
He even survived falling out a second-story window – “His experience left him with a strong craving for ‘air time’ and, thankfully, an important life lesson: Vertical jumps are dangerous; horizontal is safer!”
Recognizing his cat’s talents, Theodore began to gradually train Oscar to jump a few feet, by fractions of an inch at a time, by rewarding him with treats.
Oscar then seemed to fall in love with jumping, and Theodore says now the cat decides when he wants to practise flying – he will hop into his lap and meow insistently until he gets taken out to jump!
“It was not until Oscar’s jumps reached about five feet that it even occurred to us to look up whether there was a world record. When we found out it was 2.3 m (about 7.5 ft), we first thought beating it would be impossible,” said Theodore. “But since Oscar liked ‘air time’, we decided: ‘Let’s go for it!’”
And finally, after training for almost two more years and making more than a thousand practice jumps, Oscar finally achieved his dream on 26 February – leaping an incredible 2.58 m (8 ft 5 in).
Theodore cheekily described their determination to break the record with that of the first moon landing, quoting US President John F. Kennedy from September 12, 1968:
[We will do this and other competitive undertakings] not because are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.
And the pair have some enthusiastic advice for other potential record-breakers trying to achieve their own respective goals:
OSCAR’S CAT WISDOM: Even if you were not lucky enough to have been born a cat, and even if you have only a barely-adequate coach, practice and perseverance can get you to your goal! Never give up!
And...
OSCAR’S SPECIAL CAT WISDOM TO MIDDLE AGED CATS LIKE HIMSELF: Don’t worry about not being a spring chicken; they are better to eat anyway! Yum!
The kitty also gave a special-shout out to Theodore, for all his patience:
“Oscar extends his appreciation to his human ‘coach,’ Theodore Shiells, who, though just a regular human cat-person and a complete novice and amateur, tries hard anyway. (Oscar realizes, that being a cat, this is the best he can afford.)”
And they also acknowledged the skills of Oscar’s feline-sister, August Ray, who Theodore trained to surf and compete in dog-surfing competitions!
Theodore is very proud of his talented cats, and was so thrilled to watch Oscar fly straight from the table, and into the record books.
Congratulations, Oscar!