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How many hours a cat sleep?

How many hours a cat sleep?

No one can beat a cat when it comes to sleeping. They are the masters at falling asleep any time, any place and under any circumstances. The google search would show you thousands of photos of sleeping cats in cute and crazy positions. There is no doubt that if sleeping was an Olympic sport than your cat would definitely win the gold medal for it. On overage, the cats sleep for 15 to 18 hours a day and some cats can even sleep for 20 hours in a single day. A cat could act like a retired oldie who is on a well-deserved holiday and will sleep on and off throughout the day. Don’t be worried if your cat makes you the most boring housemate in the world. Peshi-pets would like to tell you that this is nothing personal. They sleep a lot naturally. There are so many factors which influence the cat’s sleep. The first thing is the age of the cat. The kittens will sleep majority of the day but once they turn into adults, theses cats becomes more and more active and change their sleeping patterns by themselves. However, a senior cat would slow down their activity levels and sleep for longer periods than kittens.

Cats sleep long hours in order to recharge for their next hunting spree. Although your domesticated cat’s existence couldn’t be more different to the wild cats such as lions, the genetic programming is pretty much the same. Just like its big cat cousins, your cat instinctively conserves energy in case they have to chase down their next meal, which they do despite all the nice dinners they get at home by you, served in a timely fashion every day. Never mind the premium cat food the loving owner puts in front of them all day, their innate instincts can easily take over despite the complete comforts of home life.

You might have noticed your cat is fast asleep during the daytime and wide awake at dawn and dusk. This sleeping schedule has helped your cat’s wilder relatives to be such efficient hunters such as tigers. Their prey, usually small mammals and birds, are less likely to take notice of dangers during twilight hours and so become easy targets for the hungry feline.

The same hunting instincts are responsible for your cat’s playful behavior just as you get ready for bed. Their crepuscular nature means they’ll be running up and down your room exactly when you’re least likely to play with it: early mornings and late evenings.

However, some domesticated cats are nice enough to adjust their sleeping routines to match the waking hours of their owner but this is a rare case. After all, they do need a cooperating human around to give them their share of food, water and play time which they really want.

What they eat may contribute to their sleep time, as well. They live on protein, which packs a lot of energy into a relatively small package. They needn’t spend endless hours grazing or foraging the way large herbivores do, they are a different kind.

 

So, just how much sleep does a wild cat get? Anywhere from 16 to 20 hours a day, typically. For very young and very old cats and sometimes for 22 hours, it’s near the upper end of the range, and newborns sleep almost 24/7. While cats do spend at least two-thirds of their lives asleep, they’re not “asleep” in quite the same way humans are. They do experience both non-REM and REM sleep, but for cats, “asleep” is not “off the clock.” Cats are always on the alert, even when they’re dozing off. If a strange noise wakes them up, they’re almost instantly aware and fully operational and they’ll go for immediate defense. It’s an ability that cats (and wild animals in general) depend on to stay safe, and fed, in nature’s existence.

 

House cats, of course, have left “survival of the fittest” behind. They needn’t chase down their dinner. They are, on the contrary, served their meals, sometimes gourmet ones, in a timely fashion which they really love. But the instincts haven’t changed; house cats have the same genetic programming as wild cats. Domesticated cats, like their wild counterparts, sleep about 16 hours a day, on a pretty regular schedule, saving up their energy for the hunt. You never do know when the gourmet food’s going to run out for them.

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