I think we can all agree that there’s hardly anything better than napping with your kitty. Just the two of you, curled up together under the blanket while dreaming only the most beautiful dreams. But what if your fluffball has bad dreams? You can’t help but wonder, do cats have nightmares sometimes?
When I was a little girl, I grew up surrounded by many cats. For as long as I can remember, we have always been a cat-friendly family, saving as many strays as we possibly could. That’s where my love and affection for cats come from.
Anyway, I remember I used to watch our cats sleep. It had been sort of a hobby of mine; I would be drawing or coloring something, or playing with my dolls while simultaneously watching how blissfully our cats were zoned out.
It was always fascinating to me when their paws would start to move or their whole body to twitch. Or when they would release a silent chirp, all while sleeping and dreaming. It’s silly, but back then I imagined how one day I would be the first lady who invented the machine for reading cats’ dreams.
That never happened, of course. But my fascination with cats and their dreams remained to this day.
As a kid, I thought cats only dreamt about pleasant stuff, like hunting rodents or munching on treats. But I learned that cats can have bad dreams, too.
So, I’ve done a lot of research on sleeping and dreaming of cats and I think I’m armed with good knowledge. If you’re also interested in things like this then this is the article for you.
1. It is because of their age
Cats’ age is one of the reasons behind feline nightmares, but it sure is a complicated one.
It’s said that the REM stage is more frequent in kittens, and therefore it can be concluded that kittens have more nightmares.
However, as we have said before, cats’ nightmares usually come from traumatic situations experienced sometime during their life. Since kittens are so young and don’t have that much experience, some might wonder, “How on earth can kittens even have nightmares?”.
Well, it’s important to remember that it doesn’t matter how many bad experiences they had; it’s not about the quantity, but the quality, or in this case the negativity of the past event.
Kittens’ nightmares may be a result of the early separation from their mother, for example. In our eyes, it’s an insignificant event (some people don’t even blink when they give kittens to their friends, separating them from their mother and each other), but for kittens, it’s terrifying.
So, if you happen to have a kitten, and you saw how restlessly she sleeps, don’t throw away the possibility of nightmares. Even though she’s young, she can still have bad dreams.
2. They are re-experiencing the sense of abandonment
Why do cats have nightmares, you ask? Well, because they have a fear of being abandoned.
Cats may have the infamous reputation of being the unfriendliest of them all, but that’s actually far from the real truth. Although they appear cool and disinterested, cats crave our affection and our presence in their lives. They do miss us when we’re gone!
Their dreams may never consist of an imaginative abandonment scenario, but cats can have nightmares about a situation in their past when they have been left alone for too long. Even if their current owner spends plenty of time with them, if they had a bad experience in the past, they’ll surely dream about it.
Most cats are prone to separation anxiety, and it’s no wonder that one of their worst dreams happens to be being separated from their owners.
3. They are dealing with some physical pain
Cats are masters of hiding their pain, especially older cats. So, for the most part, it’s hard to determine that something is wrong with them during their waking hours.
However, it’s hard for them to control their poker face when they’re sleeping. If they are in any kind of pain, they might be dreaming about it, and have nightmares. They can also re-live previous injuries and painful situations that left a huge impact on their little furry lives.
Therefore, any kind of experienced pain is an important trigger of bad dreams and one of the reasons why cats have nightmares.
4. They have been bullied or involved in a conflict with other pets
Another possible reason why cats have bad dreams hides in their relationship with other animals.
In multi-cat households, there’s usually always that one cat that is more dominant than the others. That cat can potentially bully other cats, causing some of them to have bad dreams.
This can also happen in households that have other animals which are naturally bigger and stronger than cats, like dogs for example. Cats who are dealing with nightmares while asleep could be dealing with a violent dog while awake.
The dog might be unaware that he’s scary, though. He might be just playful, but sometimes cats don’t see it that way.
These more dominant animals which represent a threat don’t have to be from the same household as the scared kitty. They could be a neighbor’s not-that-friendly pet.
5. They are re-living some frightening experience
Cats are known to be extremely inclined to stress and anxiety, and they are a common trigger for many conditions cats can go through. Nightmares are one of them, too.
Some of the situations that can induce stress and anxiety in cats are boredom, loneliness, loud noises (like car horns or dog barking), unsanitary living conditions, the shortage of food, and many more.
The stress these kinds of situations cause in cats can remain and be re-lived again in bad dreams. The less stressful situations cats go through – the fewer nightmares they will have.
6. They are dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder
Another reason why cats have nightmares may be hidden in another unfortunate condition, and that is a post-traumatic stress disorder.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in cats is an anxiety disorder that develops due to previous exposure to a traumatic situation, which potentially resulted in great physical pain.
Feline PTSD is different from any other type of stress and anxiety cats go through and that’s because they get diagnosed with it and therefore receive proper medication. This disorder significantly changes their behavior and greatly affects their everyday lives.
This usually happens to cats who have been cruelly treated in the past by previous owners or who have spent a part of their lives in change. With those cats, nightmares seem like their brain’s way of dealing with awful memories.