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Tip
49 - Sleeping cats - My cat sleeps all the time
Cats
sleep a lot and it is perfectly normal. In fact an average house
cat will sleep the majority of its life away. It's one of their
most
favorite
activities and they are really good
at
it.
Most
cats
will sleep
about 16 hours a day, and some even more than that. Whoever said
it's a dog's life, obviously never spent time with a cat.
Cat
sleeping patterns
The
expression cat nap refers to the light sleeping pattern of most
cats, most
of the time. About three quarters of a cat's sleeping time is
light sleep. The cat can awaken very quickly, and to an observer
it
looks like they are not fully asleep. Their eyelids may even
be slightly open. Again this is genetically related and governed
by evolution. A cat that can awaken quickly can more easily escape
from predators or fight with possible intruders. The remaining
25 per cent of a cat's sleeping pattern is deep sleep. This is
where they do their dreaming. Their paws and faces may twitch
during this type of sleep.
Why do they
need all that sleep?
Most
wild cats use huge amounts of energy when they hunt and they
need
to conserve energy in between their hunting activity. When a
cat (or any living thing for that
matter) sleeps, it uses very little energy. The longer a cat sleeps,
the more energy it conserves and the less often it has to hunt.
Although today's domestic cats don't really need to hunt, their
genes are still the same as before we took them into our homes
as pets.
Kittens
tend to sleep just as much or more than grown cats. This is primarily
due to the fact that growth hormone is only released during sleep.
The actual
diet of a cat is also a factor. Cats are carnivores. Eating meat
makes you sleepy and anyone who's just had
a huge steak can attest to this.
• It
should be noted that any drastic change in a cat's behaviour
can indicate an illness or problem. If your cat normally sleeps
only 14 hours for example, and recently it has been sleeping
much more, the cat should be checked by a vet.
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2006
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