![]() ![]() This means they are more awake and active at dawn and at dusk. While cats can be more active at night than we generally are, cats are instead by nature crepuscular. Most cat owners tend to refer to their cats as nocturnal which means the cat is awake and active at night. While not actually sleeping, she's still conserving energy. If you watch closely, she'll twitch her ears at a noise or open one eye just a slit when someone walks past. If your cat appears to be sleeping while the household is active around her, she's probably not actually sleeping. Sleep helps the cat recharge her energy reserves. These fast paced movements require a great deal of energy, however, and cannot be maintained for long. Not many creatures can go from complete relaxation to a full run in just a couple of heartbeats as a cat can. When cats are active, either hunting (for real or pretend) or playing, they are fast, strong, and use up a great deal of energy. If you see kicking and mewing in an adult cat, she's dreaming. This type of sleep is healthy and common in kittens but gradually fades away as the kitten matures. These motions help her develop muscle strength as she's sleeping. During this type of sleep the kitten will kick, jerk, move her legs, tail, torso, head, and she may cry or whimper. It's possible the kitten was dreaming but the more likely answer is the kitten was having a period of activated sleep. If you have watched a kitten sleep you may have seen her paws twitch or tail lash about and wondered what kind of a dream a kitten with no life experience could have. A newborn kitten and an old cat, especially one with health issues, both may sleep up to 20 to 22 hours a day. Geriatric cats, those in their mid to late teens, sleep more hours each day than they did as a younger adult cat. Many adult cats may be awake but just observing their world, conserving energy rather than using it, and as a result don't need as much sleep as a kitten does. The difference is kittens, when awake, play fast and hard, and then sleep deeply. Kittens are both more active than adult cats and yet also sleep more. Compare that to our measly 7 to 8 hours of sleep per day. However, a good average is about 16 hours a day. Each cat has her own routine, of course, and how much she sleeps will depend on her other activities. Some say 12 to 16 hours a day while others say up to 20 hours out of every 24. Cats certainly seem to be the animal kingdom experts of sleep.Įxperts vary on how many hours a day most cats sleep. In fact, you may envy your cat at times as you work your way through your chores and she dozes in a patch of sunshine coming through the window. If you share your home with a cat (or cats) as I do, you know cats sleep a lot. ![]()
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