Remember that a cat’s twitches are usually not harmful. If your cat has seizures, you will also likely find that they act oddly while awake - they may have wobbly feet or appear confused. Seizures do not only happen during sleep, though, so you will probably notice them while your cat is awake, too. Whole-body stiffness and jerky movements may be indicative that your cat is having a seizure and not just innocently twitching. These might be symptoms of other serious illnesses. There is no reason to see a vet over your cat’s twitching unless they are also lethargic, have a decreased appetite, vomit, their body stiffens or they have jerky movements when they twitch, or they are hard to wake up. Cats can sleep up to 16 hours each day, and a larger proportion of their sleep is REM sleep when compared to the human sleep cycle.įor most cats, twitching while asleep is normal, common behavior. In humans, the REM stage is when we remember our dreams. Some people believe twitches are involuntary muscle spasms, but many scientists agree that cats twitch while in the REM stage of sleep. They might move their ears, knead the air, or make vocal or sucking sounds. However, many cats twitch in their sleep. If your funny little cat often twitches in their sleep, you may be concerned that the condition is something serious. Pixabay/Pexels What is cause for concern? Twitching during sleep in kittens helps to properly develop their nervous systems. Their nervous systems are hard at work making neuron connections and constantly firing, which is why babies move their limbs often and kittens are so active. A similarity between humans and cats - beyond that we both go into REM sleep - is that our young have immature nervous systems. You may have noticed that younger cats tend to twitch more than older cats. They need lots of rest to make up for all the energy they exert while awake! Why do kittens twitch more than adult cats? Like other nerve firings that occur in young animals, this is important to help the nervous system mature. During activated sleep, a kitten’s nervous system is active (whereas it’s usually at rest during sleep), and they may cry, squirm, or have more pronounced twitches than average. Kittens have a fourth sleep stage, known as activated sleep. Cats will sleep in a more relaxed position in warmer temperatures. If the temperature is too cold, your cat might roll up into a ball to sleep. Their bed should be in a room that is relatively cool. Sleeping on a raised platform allows cats to escape other stimuli on the ground, such as children or other animals. To make a welcoming sleeping environment for your kitty, be sure to provide them with a bed or otherwise padded, raised sleeping area. You may also notice that your cat is harder to wake when they’re in this stage.Ĭats may not go into deep sleep if they are uncomfortable or feel unsafe. Deep sleep only lasts five to 10 minutes at a time and is when cats twitch and likely dream. When truly sleeping, cats cycle from light sleep to deep sleep and back again. Deep sleepĭeep sleep is also known as the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep. This stage lasts an average of 25 minutes before deep sleep sets in. In this stage, cats are still able to pounce at a moment’s notice if necessary. Light sleep is between a catnap and deep sleep in terms of the level of awareness cats experience. This video shows another side to the war in Ukraine: All the catsĪre cats color blind? It’s a bit more complicated than you might think Everything you need to know about the adorable snowshoe cat
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