My Cat Sleeps A Lot, Why? 7 Reasons She Snoozes All Day

As we implied at the beginning of this article, indeed cats spend much of the day sleeping or resting. Therefore, when in doubt as to whether it is normal for your cat to sleep so much, we can say that it can be something normal since domestic cats spend an average of 70% of the day sleeping. However, it cannot be ignored that there are certain times of the day when these animals are very active and that, therefore, there is also the possibility that if a cat spends a lot of time resting or dozing, it is because he is sick or something is disturbing him. happen. For this reason, you have to know how to look for other signs of health problems.

We have commented that they sleep about 70% of the day, but How many hours a day do cats sleep on average? It is something that depends on their age, apart from whether or not they are sick, so an adult cat usually sleeps between 12 and 17 hours a day and a kitten up to 5 weeks old can sleep up to a few 20 hours a day adding up all the times they sleep, that is, it does not mean that they sleep all these hours at once.

In addition, many people who adopt a kitten usually do so when the kitten is around a few months, more or less 12 weeks, and therefore they ask questions like “How many hours does a 3-month-old cat sleep?“The answer is that they no longer usually reach 20 hours a day, because they are much more active, but they can sleep between 15 and 17 hours a day.

Next, we count the reasons why cats sleep so much and other curious related details.

There are several reasons why felines sleep a lot throughout the day, but they are all related to their genetics and adaptive evolution. Mainly, there are three reasons why It is normal for a cat to spend so many hours dozing:

• Genetics and evolution: this is the first reason why domestic cats spend more hours of the day so active. As they are very effective predators and they are not animals that need a large daily intake of food in proportion to their size, they do not need much time each day to meet the time to hunt and eat, something more noticeable in cats that live in a home and They don’t even need to hunt for food. For this reason, they spend the rest of the time resting, sleeping and, at times, playing and cleaning themselves.
• Adaptation to the home: Another related aspect is that these animals do not have such a strong need to go outside to relieve themselves as other pets do, although there are some that need to go out to interact with more living beings than those at home, something that It depends a lot on the character of each one. This fact makes them more sedentary than, for example, dogs. Thus, they also sleep more because they do not need to expend as much energy and even because they do not have many more things to do or because of boredom, for this reason, we also recommend that you play with your cat to activate and stimulate it.
• The rain and the cold: As it happens to us or to any other animal, the climate affects the state of activity and even the state of mind. Therefore, when the weather is cold, it rains or there are fewer hours of natural light, cats tend to sleep even more.

Cats sleep much more when they are sick

In addition to taking into account that they are animals that spend the day in this state, we must think that there are also reasons that are not part of the normality or way of being of domestic cats. Specifically, when they are sick or something happens to them, just like it happens to us, they tend to rest more than usual and even sleep deeply during hours.

When the body is facing a problem, it requires an extra effort while its defenses are diminished, which is why it tends to rest or sleep more than when it is healthy. So if you see that your furry feline spends more hours than usual sleeping or you observe more signs of health problems, such as watery eyes, rheumy eyes, sneezing, coughing, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, etc., then it will be necessary that go to the vet with him and follow his instructions so that he recovers.

You may also have noticed that your partner sometimes appears to be sound asleep but has one or both half-closed eyes or fully open. When we see this, and we can even observe that eyes move from side to side, it is normal for us to wonder why they do it and if something happens. But have you ever seen a person sleep like this? Indeed, humans, like countless animal species, also sleep with their eyes open on some occasions.

The truth is that it is normal for it to happen when the animal he is falling asleep soundly, meaning that you are transitioning from light sleep to sound sleep. The time that this lasts depends on each one, so sometimes you can see that your feline does it for a moment and other times it will be like this for several minutes.

At this point, it is easy for them to wake up if they see something that catches their attention, just as if they hear something, because they also have a strong survival instinct that leads them to somehow always pay attention to their surroundings, just in case they should. react and wake up instantly.

As with us, we must bear in mind that not all domestic cats are the same, each one has its way of being and its character, and, therefore, some may differ greatly from the general norm in some aspects. Thus, although these animals usually spend long hours resting and are somewhat sedentary, there are cats that are very active and do not stop. In fact, there are breeds that, due to genetics, are more likely to have more activity, so when it comes to welcoming one into your home, look at the race and the general characteristics to know if it will be more or less calm or active and if that suits you.

In addition, it is also necessary to take into account the age of the cat, as puppies or kittens are much more active but also sleep deeply for many hours. On the other hand, those who are in their teens are much more active, adults begin to sleep more hours and the elderly are the ones who spend more time with their eyes closed and resting.

If you liked knowing the answer to your question about whether is it normal for my cat to sleep so much you may also be interested in knowing in this other OneHOWTO article if it is bad to sleep with my cat or not.

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