Straight up vertical.

[rug]

I had to push my cat off the keyboard to post this.

[petronius]

1. Awesome! I had to watch that probably 20 times before

I could tear away and hit reply.

I like the wiggle on the way down - it's like he was so intent on hitting the target and watching it fly, that it took a moment to realize he needed to plan for a landing...

[rug]

2. It's astounding. No running start, just coil up and whoosh!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. listen, I think I hear a Fwap sound

I think I did

[HopeHoops]

4. That's a good one! It's hard to judge the actual height, but it's up there!

I had a tiger cat with really long and strong legs. He could clear the refrigerator from the floor, very much like that jump. He'd throw his front paws over the freezer door and whip his back legs up to finish the leap. I don't remember ever seeing him use a counter along the way, or at least he never did when I was watching. Seemed to be an ego trip thing.

This same cat pulled a lot of stunts - waiting for me to look before doing them. In one of my early apartments, I had a stack of six or eight tires in the living room. The couch was on the opposite side (fairly large room) and the coffee table was always covered in full ashtrays and empty beer bottles and who knows what else. I was sitting on the couch smoking a cigarette (or something) and drinking a beer when I looked up and saw him in the cat-leap crouch - on top of the tires. I said, "Don't you dare!" and at that moment he launched himself across the room, did a short hop-scoot on the coffee table and used the momentum to bounce up onto the back of the couch. For as shocked as I was, all he did was give me a "I knew I could do that" look.