Do cats sleepwalk?

This question from my ten year old today.

No they don't.

They do have dreams! My Gizmo sometimes kicks me repeatedly in the bed while she is clearly sound asleep. She twitches, meows, and purrs in her sleep. But no, she doesn't sleep walk in the literal sense...just moves her feet as if she was chasing something.

I agree on the dreams - a few times our cat Lucy woke up hissing and spitting and generally freaked out. One time she even jumped about 3 feet sideways and tore a hole in the upholstery! I know she was dreaming about some vivid kitty confrontation and it would take her a few minutes to sort of "re-enter" before we would dare to even pet her, then she'd start purring like crazy, SO glad to be back home!

Originally Posted by gizmocat

They do have dreams! My Gizmo sometimes kicks me repeatedly in the bed while she is clearly sound asleep. She twitches, meows, and purrs in her sleep. But no, she doesn't sleep walk in the literal sense...just moves her feet as if she was chasing something.

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hehe, both my cats do that too. It's too cute. Their little noses wiggle and they twitch and kick. Chynna who is almost 15 years old even makes sucking sounds in her sleep while her front paws are making that kneading motion.

I've often wondered what they dream about seeing that Abby has been an indoor cat all of her life and Chynna for most of her life except for a few days when she was abandoned by a tenant who moved out of a building I lived in. The most they see is birds outside, but I'm on the 7th floor so unless the bird is flying by they don't even see those, or the occasional fly that finds its way in and all they do when they see one of those is sit there meowing so that "Mommy" can go and take care of it, LOL

In addition to the running movements while dreaming, I once saw my cat licking his lips and "drinking" in his sleep.