A Kitty's Point of View: What Do Cats Dream About?

Ooooh!  Zzzzzz... I do like to curl up in a ball and have a snooze! I can drop off in a lot of different places, but I do have my favorites! On my human’s bed, or even under the covers if she’s not looking - it’s especially cozy if she has just got out and it’s all snuggly and warm!

Another spot I love is on the high shelf, just above the warm radiator; I know I’m fairly safe there and that pesky dog can’t come sniffing around and wake me up. But my favorite place of all is on the sofa, next to my human while she is watching TV.

OK, we do sleep a lot, but it’s not all peaceful sleep - sometimes I wake up more tired than when I dropped off! You see, just like humans, cats dream when they are sleeping - but only sometimes! Let me explain:

My sleep patterns

Light sleep

Sometimes I sleep very lightly and I’m ready to pounce or get out of the way if something disturbs me - you’ll probably find me having a number of these catnaps during the day and it can be indoors or outdoors. I have my favorite spots everywhere, as long as they are warm and safe - I’m always alert, even though my eyes are closed.

Deeper sleep - the REM phase

You’ll know I’m in this phase because I might be twitching my tail, moving my body, or you may even spot my eyes moving with my eyelids closed (this is the Rapid Eye Movement phase) and this is a sign that I am dreaming. But, it’s important that you don’t wake me up, even if you think I’m having a bad dream as this would disrupt my sleep pattern - it’s all very normal, so don’t worry!

Deep but calm sleep - the non-REM phase

I love it when I wake up from this sleep - I feel revitalized and raring to go! This is when our feline muscles and bones make themselves stronger and our immune systems develop. My baby kitty friends have more of this type of sleep than us older cats - that makes sense because they are so active!

Do cats dream like humans?

Cats are very similar to humans when it comes to our dreams. Just like you, we have lots of experiences during the day:

• When I go outside, I love to sit on top of the fence to watch out for that tabby cat two doors down. He sometimes tries to come into my garden so I have to chase him off.  But sometimes in my dreams he turns around and hisses at me - I don’t like that so much.
• Then I might hide behind a bush watching for any mice that might try to sneak by -  this brings out my hunting instincts - it’s great fun to chase a mouse, but I don’t always catch them in my dreams because they run under the shed and manage to escape. Then I’ll wake up and go and have a look in the garden just to check he’s not come back out.
• I also dream about playing with my human friends.  We have two children in our home and every evening we have playtime. We play lots of different games, but I love it when they bring out a ping-pong ball and roll it across the floor for me to chase.  I always catch it, so that’s a good dream.  It’s even better when they give me a treat afterwards!
• I’m not so keen when it comes to the time of the year when lots of fireworks are let off. They scare me and I’m glad when I wake up from that dream!
• As you know, cats don’t like change too much, so if something different happens - like we have visitors that I haven’t met before - this might disturb my sleep and I will have a dream about that person.

These experiences get repeated in our brain when we are sleeping and although I can’t be sure, I expect that they get jumbled up a bit - but my human is always thinking about me, as she has FELIWAY CLASSIC to hand all the time and that really makes me feel calm and serene and my dreams are quite often very, well, dreamy.