Dreams of cats.
Dreams of cats.
Everybody who has ever had a cat knows that cats like to sleep and they spend a lot of time sleeping. The picture of a sleeping cat in the armchair is the usual picture in many houses.
A cat sleeps 18 hours a day and sometimes even more. As a rule it depends on the activity and the age of a cat. But the majority of time they don't sleep but nap ready to get up and run or jump.
According to researches there are two phases of a dream of a cat that differ from the level of the mental activity.
The first phase is the light sleep. During this phase a cat realizes what happens and reacts on the smell or the sound. Then in 10-30 minutes the deep sleep comes. During the deep sleep a head of a cat stops moving, muscles relax. The deep sleep lasts 5-7 minutes as a rule. Sometimes a cat may see dreams during it. The deep sleep helps a cat to relax and get new power for the day.
Duration of each phase can change with age and depends on individual characteristics of the cat. The old cats nap more than sleep. While young cats sleep the phases may change several times.
The sleep of the cat and the sleep of the person differ a lot. It plays the main role in their lives. The kitten grows while sleeping. But still the sleep of cats is a mystery for science and for people. Even sleeping the brain of the cat continues to be active.
When a cat sleeps it is possible to notice the movement of its eye apples. According to researches cats see dreams and the most frequent dreams they see are connected with the investigation of territory, hunting, aggressive behavior, reactions on something, anger, and even toilet.
It is necessary to be attentive while the pet sleeps. It is possible to find out the problems and diseases the cat has. If the cat constantly moves legs and tries to catch unreal mouse, then the cat has some mental disorders. In this case it is necessary to take it to the doctor.
Cats that stop sleeping become more aggressive, they start to eat more, and they may become too active. But such situations appear rarely, in majority of cases only in laboratories. The disorders in sleep are caused artificially with the aim to investigate. The serious disorders in such cases are described in special literature. Natural disorders are not very much investigated and scientists don't pay particular attention to it.
There are a few situations when a person comes to a doctor because of bad sleep of the cat. If the cat sleeps more than usually then it is the result of to hot weather or the pregnancy of the cat that make the cat less active.
Disorders in sleep of the cats may appear as a result of stress situations, for example, when a cat moved to the new house.
It is necessary to be very attentive with your cat while it sleeps. It shouldn't be disturbed for playing or for eating. The cat knows by itself what it needs, that is why the best way to keep your cat fit is to leave it alone for several minutes.