Why Does My Cat Sleep So Much?

You Can't Beat Instinct

Cats like to eat. That shouldn't come as a shock to anyone who's spent any time around a cat. And some housecats like to eat a lot! Under three hundred calories per day is a responsible diet for a nine to a ten-pound housecat. A feral cat will consume around two hundred calories daily with considerable exercise.

Cats in the wild - be they lions, tigers or bearcats - need to hunt for their food. That's a lot of running, jumping, fighting, and hunting involved in survival. Unless a human is helping their dietary requirements out of the goodness of their hearts, all the food they consume will be tracked or stolen.

If a cat needs to do all that work, it needs to conserve energy for as long as possible. Why? Because it needs to produce quick-as-lightning muscle movements and sustain those until the hunt has procured the calories and protein, it must have.

The cat conserves energy and allows its body to heal by sleeping. A cat's way of life is multiple short sleep periods - fifteen to twenty hours of total slumber per day- followed by constant energy consumption outbursts. Housecats are no exception.

Instinct is a powerful force. Even with regular meals and the freedom to enjoy a relatively peaceful life, the feline brain is wired for sleep. Adolescent and adult cats will sleep twelve to twenty hours, but kittens will sleep up to twenty-two hours per day.

It's a living!

The Crepuscular Way

You've probably noticed that cats sleep most during the day, so you'd think they must be nocturnal, like a skunk or a possum. Oh, contraire. Cats are most active at dawn and dusk. That's called "crepuscular." And crepuscular animals make getting ready for work in the morning and bed at night a trying experience for people.

But cats that share their lives with humans can realign some of their sleep patterns to the diurnal state of their owners. That doesn't preclude them from taking a nap or twelve while their people are away at work for multiple reasons, including boredom. An understimulated cat may eat and sleep more due to stress from separation. Always play ten to twenty minutes per day with each cat when possible. That will help with the boredom and create a stronger bond with your furry friend.

Feline Hepatic Lipidosis

Cats are still not human beings and lack certain digestive enzymes we take for granted. For example, most of us can drink cow's milk without issue. But not everyone can. Those without that ability are called lactose intolerants. They lack the necessary enzyme called lactase. For those who are lactose intolerant, drinking cow's milk is a big problem.

Unable to digest the lactose (a large sugar) in cow's milk can be solved for people with lactose-free milk or milk derived from other sources like almonds, soy or coconuts.

A feline's gut is also void of lactase. A cat will usually vomit cow's milk in differing amounts and with different regularity based on the particular animal. Diarrhea or stomach pain may accompany other additional symptoms.

A more significant problem is feline hepatic lipidosis, where fat accumulates in the liver and cannot be metabolized efficiently. A cat unable or unwilling to eat for various reasons will - possibly within seventy-two hours - find its body instinctively trying to use stored fat for energy. The fat cells go to the liver, but the animal cannot metabolize them. Hepatic lipidosis is the result.

For a human, burning fat cells is the way to lose weight, but liver damage or failure results from a cat not being designed to metabolize fat at such a high rate. Death often follows.

Cats are designed to eat small hunted prey a few times a day. That provides all the meat, water content, protein and calories to keep its engine humming. A cat with access to too much food faces the possibility of a myriad of problems, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease and hepatic lipidosis, which can result from too much fat entering their bodies.

Are You Asleep, Mr. Whiskers?

Cats sleep, but not in the same way that people, dogs, and other pets do. For people, the eyes are the windows through which we most experience our world. They are directly attached to the brain through the optic nerve. But not with Felis catus; it's the ears. Those marvelous ears!

What's so special about a cat's ears?

• There are thirty-two muscles in each ear, allowing 180 degrees of motion.
• Cats can move each ear independently.
• A cat's ears reveal its mood - when flattened, the cat is frightened.
• A cat hears at 64,000 Hz - three times better than humans in high and low frequencies.
• Cats are born deaf (and blind), but hearing comes at about three weeks (two to four for eyesight).
• Cats' ears are wired to the brain through a deep inner ear structure called the cochlea. That means a cat can hear and interpret the sound while asleep. This important feature allows a cat to pick up scary sounds and awaken, ready to run.

Some Cats Have it Made

To sleep, perchance to dream...of mice? Cats love to sleep and know how to take full advantage of it. On average, three-quarters of their sleep involves being partly alert, with the ears rotating and the eyes sometimes partially open. One-quarter of their sleep is deep and ultra-restorative.

And if they're lucky enough to find a human to rule over, their life becomes that of a god. Food at the ready, cool water to drink and a sunny windowsill to lounge in. Maybe they'll even take a nap. You know, so they can be ready for the "Running of the Cats" all over the house at breakneck speeds. That behavior is for another article.