Cat Behavior and Training

        When we think about animals that might have sleep problems, our first thought is not about cats.  After all, it seems that most of their lives is spent sleeping.  How could cats have problems sleeping? Well, in fact, some cats do have problems sleeping.         Sleep problems can be of different sorts: Either not getting enough, getting too much, having it frequently disturbed or having it happen when the cat least expects it.  One of the problems that cats can have is called hypersomnia, meaning excessive sleep.

        A common cause for hypersomnia is boredom.  As we saw in an earlier blog, the lack of social contacts and mentally stimulating environments can increase sleep.  When there’s nothing to do, sleep will fill the time.  Thus, excessive sleep can be an indicator of an inadequate environment.

       Hypersomnia can be caused by other things as well.  Cats that are very stressed may react by becoming inactive, just lying on a perch for example, and sleeping more. It seems like a paradoxical reaction to stress, but that’s the way some cats handle it.  They can also respond to stresses by sleeping too little which is known as insomnia (more about that later).  Hypersomnia, insomnia and other sleep disorders can be a sign of distress or illness in cats as well as people. If your cat seems to be sleeping too little or too much, make an appointment with your veterinarian to check for medical or stress related problems. 

       If your cat seems to be sleeping too much and it’s not a medical problem, think about the different factors we talked about earlier that can affect sleep.  Is your cat older or a kitten?  There’s not much you can do about age, but at least it will help you understand your cat’s sleep habits.

       You can also consider your cat’s environment.  Is your cat frequently left alone in the dark?  She may be bored or have too much dark time.  Leave the lights on and provide more companionship, toys or things to do when you’re gone.  If your cat free feeds so she can eat whenever she wants or gets several meals a day, consider cutting back to just two meals a day. Your cat will probably be awake more, but she’ll probably spend most of this time pestering you for food. Also keep in mind that cats NORMALLY sleep 11 to 16 hours a day, and you shouldn’t try to get them to sleep less than this or inadvertently do things that cause them to sleep less.  It doesn’t create a quality environment for your cat and can distress her.

       Cats can have other sleep problems such as insomnia and narcolepsy, and we’ll talk about them in our next blog.