It's a universal truth: cats love to sleep.
The main reasons, however, are more about how cats are wired than about any experience of enjoyment.
Cats Are Crepuscular
Says author Yehaira Cespedes on WebMD, “cats are crepuscular”, not, as many of us assume, nocturnal.
That is to say, cats are most active during the hours just before dawn and dusk – just, as it happens, when mice and other rodents also tend to be most active.
As a small-scale predator species, cats are also most active around dawn and dusk so that they can stay mostly out of sight of predators who can give them trouble.
For instance, in their wild days, they needed to avoid hawks or eagles during the day, and owls at night.
To say nothing of wolves, bears and badgers, and other big predators.
Sleep Means Energy
Every cat mom and dad knows that their cat, as part a hunter species, is all about waiting for the next chance to “hunt”, even if it’s just for a shoestring.
Like all natural hunters, cats always want their energy levels to be high enough to uses instantly. That means they want to rest as much as possible when they’re not on the hunt.
That way, they’ll have plenty of gas for those sudden bursts of energy and speed that will let them catch any unsuspecting “prey” – even if that prey is only a leaf, foil ball, or that ever-elusive red dot.
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Just How Deep Is That Sleep?
We’ve all seen it: our cats lying on a couch, bed, or other surface in a position so twisted, it would make a pretzel proud. They’re so deeply asleep, you can call their name—or drop a bomb next to them—and they won’t even flinch.
Turn on the vacuum cleaner in the next room, though, and suddenly, Kitty is not only fully awake, but heading for the nearest door at full speed.
And we all know how quickly cats wake from a dead sleep when the can opener starts!
In other words, even though she may look like she’s deeply asleep, chances are, your kitty is at least somewhat aware of everything that is going on around her.
Indeed, unless they’re part of a colony that has one or more “guards” on duty at all times, feral cats tend to sleep only for very short periods of time with one ear, or even with one eye, open.
That’s where the “cat nap” comes from.
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Accommodating Our Hours
Our cats tend to adjust their sleeping patterns more to our hours so as to spend more time with their “social circle” – aka, you and the family. Still, the average cat only truly sleeps “deeply” for about one-fourth of their sleep cycles. The other three-fourths are dedicated to napping.
Every cat owner has experienced the “4 AM zoomies”, that time when our kitties dash from place to place, causing all sorts of crashing sounds, along with singing the Song of Their People at the tops of their catly little lungs.
Don’t worry, though; that’s just your cat’s way of acting like the hunter he or she is deep down inside.
Soon enough, your kitties will again be soundly and happily sleeping on their backs, with their legs sticking straight in the air and their heads close to yours.
