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On the armchair, on the couch, on the windowsill, by the fireplace, and next to the computer. Where it is quiet, warm, and safe. Cats sleep on average 15 hours a day, some of them can sleep up to 20 hours a day. Why so much?
Why do cats sleep so much?
Cats spend almost twice as much time sleeping as humans. Length of sleep may vary depending on age, size, and temperament, but it doesn’t change the fact that 2/3 of a cat’s life is a life with squinted eyes (only bats and possums sleep more than cats!). Let’s be more precise: several hours of the cat’s sleep is not a stone-like and uninterrupted sleep. Most of it is a nap, from which the animal can wake up very quickly. Why? Cat is a predator, his instinct tells him to be alert and always ready to chase the prey. While taking a nap – and a nap usually lasts from a quarter to an hour – he arranges his body in such a way that at any moment he can break off to attack. The deep sleep phase lasts about 5 minutes, after which the cat returns to its nap. And so it alternates until it is completely awake.
Many cat owners think that their pets are active at night. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of the night the cat sleeps, the most active is just after sunset and immediately before sunrise.
If the owners are absent for most of the day – cats spend this time sleeping. It happens that the house cat is accustomed to sleep at night, which can be very uncomfortable for other residents. You can try to change this habit. It is enough to offer your pet more intensive entertainment during the day – if he doesn’t have a chance for a daytime nap, he will have to regenerate his strength just like the rest of the family – at night.
Changes in the weather can also affect a cat’s sleep. There are also other factors like the cat’s breed, age, temperament, and health. The length of sleep is also affected by whether the cat spends time indoors or is a cat who likes to roam in the yard. (Indoor cats sleep much more)
Cats don’t like to waste energy unnecessarily. Most cats’ lifestyles consist of daytime sleep, nighttime sleep, and a lot of activity in the morning and after dark. This is how they were programmed by nature as typical predators. A long sleep between the moments of increased activity helps them to recuperate.
Do cats dream?
It is now believed that cats and dogs have dreams just like humans. A cat’s sleep is divided into three phases. Shallow sleep – is the most common. In the shallow phase of sleep, the cat is very alert and ready to wake up at any time. Most often in this phase comes the cat all the sounds, and he himself gives the impression that only for a moment closed his eye.
The second phase is deep sleep. The cat, as a predator even in this phase, is alert, but however much more relaxed than in the shallow phase of sleep. The body is more relaxed and the senses no longer register all external stimuli so clearly.
The third phase is the REM phase. In this phase, the cat sleeps very deeply – sometimes you can see tiny vibrations of the paws and hear murmurs. It is in this phase that your cat is most likely to have dreams.
What can a cat dream about? Probably, like in humans, during sleep, the cat’s mind processes what happened during the day, so it can be assumed that many times it dreams about playing with its owners. Interestingly, cats never meow in their sleep – this is reserved for waking communication.
Where does the cat prefer to sleep?
Where it feels safe. A sense of security is more important for a cat than comfort. That’s why many times we see pictures of cats falling asleep in the strangest places, in even stranger positions. Most often these are places where the cat is warm – they love to nap in the sunlight on a window sill, next to a radiator, and on the warm lap and belly of the owner. A lot about the cat says also the position in which it sleeps. Most cats sleep curled up in a ball or with their paws curled up, resembling “bread”. Does your cat sleep on its back, exposing its belly? Congratulations! It is a sign of great confidence in you. Only cats who feel very secure sleep this way.
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