Resting behaviour of the domestic cat

The repose period of feline “activity” varies from sitting to sleeping with several associated behaviour postures in between.

Pet cats housed entirely indoors utilise an average of five sites. During the day, preference is given to resting high up for 40% of cats for a total time of seven hours. Another 33% laze on a couch or sofa for five hours; 31% use a window sill for one hour at a time. At night, 42% rest on, or in, the bed for five hours.

A blanket is the favourite location for 28% of cats for six hours, divided equally between day and night. Less than 25% use material, chairs, cat baskets, carpet, wood, cat trees or other smooth surfaces.

House cats spend about 16% of their day just sitting on their haunches with front legs positioned as if standing.

Resting is often equated with a lying down position and although that is usually true it does not necessarily have to be. Adult cats on a farm will rest between three and eight hours a day whereas households with two cats can spend 3% of their time crouched, 30% lying with their head down and 45% lying with their head up.

To lie down the cat can lower either the chest or the hindquarter to the ground first, and to rise it can raise either end first or both ends simultaneously, as is most often done when spring up after prey or stretching. If resting on a high plateau the cat may also slide head first off its perch to the ground.

There are four basic body postures associated with lying.

The one is lying on the chest with forepaws pointed forward and the tail directed straight backwards as the posture seen of the lion on matchboxes or statues of Bastet in Egypt. Another posture is the more common version of lying on the chest where the cat has its forepaws rotated and flexed so they are tucked back under the cat with the tail usually curled around the body and across all the paws. This may be a compensation for warmth with very cold environmental temperatures.

The second lying posture is where the cat reclines completely on its side where the animal may be stretched into full extension or curled into a ball with the paws folded around one another even tight enough so that the head and paws are ticked under its body and enclosed by the tail.

The third lying posture is used by cats with a “quiet alert” conscious phase which incorporates lying in a combination head pointing forward, front part of torso resting on chest and hindquarter lying sideways

The fourth is where cats sleep on their backs which is not applied for lengthy periods and is commonly used in overweight individuals using their body fat to maintain their stability.

Sleeping is, in fact, an active process! It commences with the nervous system’s initiation of searching for a place of refuge then applying special posturing for this function. Up to three weeks of age 50% of the kitten’s day is spent sleeping. At two months of age the sleep patterns are on the verge of the adult form.

The amount of sleeping done by kittens is inversely proportional to the amount of play participation. Farm cats sleep from 7 to 12 hours a day. The amount of deep sleep needed by a young cat gradually decreases from 5½ to nine hours of the daily sleep time to about two to three hours for an adult. Senior cats have increased sleep time fragmented into bouts of sleep but significantly less deep.

Light sleep, also known as slow wave sleep, occurs in accordance with certain postures requiring increased muscle tone and balance such as the first two forms of lying down mentioned earlier. Breathing and heart rate is decreased and steady, blood pressure is lower, eye pupils contract, third eyelid protrudes and the extrinsic body muscle are fairly still.

Most sleep states of the cat, in nature, is slow wave occupying 40-50% of each day, but it may be longer because it is difficult to observe these creatures due to their nocturnal characteristics. Altogether 82% of their sleep time is at night.

Within 10 to 30 minutes after falling asleep a cat may progress into a deeper stage and although the general body muscle tone is relaxed superimposed bursts of excitatory reflexes may be noticed such as flexion of the toes, twitching of the ears, movement of the whiskers, flicking of the tongue, tail twitching and dilatation of the pupils.

Is this dreaming? Do animals dream? This phase of sleep is, however, the same mode during which humans dream. Sometimes rapid eye movements, known as REM, of 8-30 at a time may be observed in this paradoxical form of sleep.

Cats that are forced to remain awake for prolonged periods become increasingly irritable, to the point of illness. Cats become increasingly drowsy with continuous light and drowsiness decreases when the cat receives set meals. Ad lib feeding increases drowsiness and a dark environment increases feline activity!

I sincerely hope that cat owners will appreciate the effort that goes in to their pets’ sitting, resting, lying down and sleeping programme.