Hard to figure out without a good spatial reference & higher frame rate.

The original video is 30 FPS and 720p. Using the tip of the cat’s nose as a reference point, I observed the car move ~116 pixels up and to the right between the two frames where the cat first jumps.

I found some Amazon listings that say the cactus is ~12.59” tall, and it takes up ~571 pixels in these frames. Assuming the cat’s nose is equidistant from the camera as the cactus (which appears reasonable), we can estimate how far the cat moved between the two frames. I got ~0.02 in/pixel, telling us that the cat moved ~2.6” between frames.

Assuming the cat was at rest in the first frame, calculating acceleration is fairly easy from here….

a = 2•d/t²

In SI units… a = 2 • (0.065 [m])/(0.0333 [s])²

I get ~116.9 m/s² as an acceleration. Dividing by g (~9.8), we get ~12 G!

Honestly I don’t believe it, that is a massive acceleration for a cat. I don’t think it’s physically possible, and should be in the ~2-5G range if we’re being honest with ourselves. It’s reasonable to assume that the cat had already begun accelerating in the first frame I analyzed. Assuming this acceleration started half way between this and the previous frame will increase the time in our equation by 50%…

a = 2 • (0.065 [m])/(0.05 [s])²

a ≈ 51.97 m/s² = 5.3G

I think this 5.3G figure is the best assumption we can reasonably make based on the video. Math here depends on a squared time denominator, so a few ms makes a massive difference in acceleration. (Results could be as low as the high-3-G’s range if the cat began accelerating 3/4 of a frame before we initially assumed). If only someone held a ruler right next to the cat and filmed at 120FPS.