Why cats sleep a lot: here's what scientists say

"All nature strives for self-preservation"‎

It is unlikely that Cicero had cats in mind when he said this phrase. And yet the Roman orator made the point: cats sleep for self-preservation.

13 hours a day - so much time on average pets carry outAnimal Sleep: A Review of Sleep Duration Across Phylogeny / Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Review, touchingly inactive. More than half of the cat's day passes in a state of complete rest, and in fact, in the remaining time, the pets are not very tired either. Eating, drinking, meowing at the wall, waking up the owner at night and sharpening your claws on expensive wallpaper is a standard set of tasks for 11 hours of wakefulness. The tasks are important, but not too energy-intensive - why then do cats need so much time to rest?

The answer lies in the genes. Probably, wild cats becomeThe Taming of the Cat / NIH "‎tame a person"‎ about 9.5 thousand years ago. And before contact with people, for millions of years, animals

had toPhylogenomic evidence for ancient hybridization in the genomes of living cats (Felidae) / NIH earn their own living in conditions of high competition for food. Hunting required a lot of strength, and 13 hours of sleep gaveWhy do cats sleep so much? / Science Focus furry predators stocks of resources necessary for survival.

So no need to panic and call veterinarianif your cat sleeps a lot. Most likely, he is not sick and not bored, it's just that nature tells him so. But a suspiciously low amount of sleep in cats can be a symptom of dangerous conditions. For example, due to the feline immunodeficiency virus, animals maySleep patterns are disturbed in cats infected with feline immunodeficiency virus / NIH stay 50% more awake than healthy members of their species.

"Eat, now you can sleep"

The famous motto of the infantile frog from cartoon fits perfectly into the life of domestic cats: in a safe environment, the pet will sleep and eat almost all the time. It's experimental confirmedSleep patterns of the laboratory cat / NIH back in the 70s.

Another factor in the drowsiness of seals, which is associated with the search for food, is light. British and French explorers figured outCats found to eat more in the winter / School of Veterinary Science / University of Liverpool: during the winter months, domestic cats eat and move more than during the summer months. The reduction of daylight hours gives animals a signal: it will be cold, which means they need to eat up, and for this, they need to hunt more. In the summer, with an increase in daylight hours, the activity of cats decreases: a lot of light - a lot of prey, it makes no sense to strain.

In modern homes, it is light even at night, so pets sleep more.

And for those who prefer eternal twilight in the apartment, it is worth remembering: you may be confusing the cat.

By the way, available food and light are not the only “sleeping pills” that man has brought into the life of a cat. Heat can also reduce activity. In the brain of this animal there are thermosensitive neurons, which, among other things, participateExposure to heat restores sleep in cats with preoptic/anterior hypothalamic cell loss / NIH in the regulation of sleep and arousal. It is rarely cold in apartments and houses. So that pets may more often pull to curl up and plunge into dreams, where they probably show the beautiful.

"You and I are of the same blood - you and I"

The laws of the jungle can be surprisingly similar to the laws of an apartment. Italian explorers observedDaily rhythm of total activity pattern in domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) maintained in two different housing conditions / Journal of Veterinary Behavior for two groups of pets. The first lived in small houses and could only go out into the garden from 8:00 to 9:00. Representatives of the second group lived in more spacious houses and walked at any time. It turned out that daytime activity was higher in cats from the first group, and night activity was higher in self-sufficient pets from the second.

These studies support the notion that homemade cats living in small spaces in close contact with the owner can synchronize their activity with the owners. So, before blaming the cat for daytime laziness, make sure that there is not another sedentary character nearby who comes to life closer to the night. Perhaps the pet does not seek to sleep all day, but is forced to adapt to the laws of its pack.