Thread: Feline Dreaming

My cat has those too, although I don't think they are related to dreaming. If they are akin to their human conterparts (hypnic jerks I believe they are called), then they are just involuntary muscle spasms that happen while they sleep, certainly nothing problematic.

That is indeed related to dreaming, even if mildly. However, there's no need to wake your cat up. Most nightmares happen in really deep sleep paralysis (at least for humans) and that's really one of the causes of the nightmare.

If he really is having hypnic jerks because of a nightmare, then he won't take long to wake up by himself either, so there isn't much to worry.

I based this on the idea that cats dreams similarly to humans. If their sleeping process is diferent, this post goes wrong

I think you can even tell what your cat or dog is dreaming about from watching what they do (looking, sniffing, running, etc.) They seem to have less sleep-paralysis than humans. My friend's St. Bernard lets out these really scary eerie howls in his sleep. Just like talking in your sleep I guess.

What I wonder is if they think their dreams really happened. But they probably forget them really quickly.

Yeah that's all probably true. I think that some animals are more active in their sleep than others. I've never noticed my German shepherd spasm in his sleep, but my old Rotweiler used to do it all the time.

You should see my cat in the violent stages though.. it's almost like he's seizuring.

Thanks for clearing all that up a bit though.