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Cats: how many hours do they sleep?
Cats: how many hours do they sleep?
Anonim

THE cats housekeepers are often considered lazy because of how many hours they sleep, and in fact it is one of their favorite activities and the one that takes them the most time. But exactly how many hours does a cat sleep? Let's find out right away.

sleeping cat
sleeping cat

Cats are among the animals that sleep the most, and for good reason: they are predators, or at least they possess the physiology of it; their preys are generally chased for quite a while before being overwhelmed and this leads to a significant waste of energy, which must be recovered before the next hunting session. They are therefore evolved to sleep or rest for most of the time they are not hunting, in order to save the strength to run, climb and catch other prey.

Another important factor that affects the amount of sleep that the cat allows is the Power supply. Animal proteins make up most of the energy needs of a cat and allow them to immediately exploit the energy they recover with the meal.

Image
Image

On average a wild cat adult sleeps 16 to 20 hours a day. Older cats obviously most approach the 20-hour threshold, while smaller kittens can even exceed it.

THE domestic cats instead, having fewer predatory instincts, they tend to sleep on average from 12 to 16 hours a day. Kittens will need about 20 hours of sleep in their first 4-5 weeks of life, since it is during sleep that the hormone that stimulates their growth is released. Even older domestic cats, as if regressing to childhood, will go back to sleep for about 20 hours.

We specify that here we are not talking about several consecutive hours of sleep but about various and short “rests” scattered around during the day. It is only a couple of times a day that the cat gets into a deeper, heavier sleep.

close-up of sleeping cat
close-up of sleeping cat

If the cat sleeps too much or too little

If you notice that your cat is sleeping more or less than usual, do not hesitate to consult with a veterinarian. In particular, excessive sleep could be a sign of pain or malaise, while too frequent wakefulness could be a symptom of disorders such as hyperthyroidism.

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