cats have nine lives

No, cats don't have to be killed nine times in order to die. The superstition is rooted in the cats ability to land on all four feet in most cases. Cats have fallen from high places in a lot of cases and manage to walk away with little or no injury. This is due to a number of reasons. Their reflexes and agility often allow them to right themselves when falling, even if they started falling when they were upside down. Couple that with their size, low body weight and the fact that they land on all four paws almost all the time, and their impact with the ground, even from great heights, is lessened and dampened dramatically when compared to humans and other animals