"runs" while sleeping

hiya

do they have visual dreams?? its just Givi sometimes "runs" somewhere when he sleeps. he doesnt move of course, but his muscles contract and eyeballs move while eye leads are closed.

is it an OK thing for cats?

It's perfectly normal, mine do it all the time!

I swear my dog runs a marathon some nights, the kitties do it too

Originally Posted by mbjerkness

I swear my dog runs a marathon some nights, the kitties do it too

Click to expand...

I know dogs do it..Trout is too freaked out to completely fall asleep in front of anyone so I wouldn't know if she does it

Sadie and Dexter both twitch and "run" in their sleep....so cute.
I wish I knew what they were dreaming about.

I've seen both my babies do it too. I just say they are chasing birdies

Yeah, Zoe does it sometimes too...she's funny to watch. We often wonder what she's dreaming of too.

Our kitties do it all the time. Ming Loy never lived outside - I wonder what the heck she dreams about?!? And our feral rescues - they were young when we rescued them. But I wonder if they remember rabbits and mice - are they dreaming about them?????

We'll never know!

Laurie

Well heck, people do it. It's just good old-fashioned REM. But I read somewhere (which I can't cite now) that cats dream of hunting--some researchers turned off the part of the brain that prevents them from acting out the dream, and they hunted. (Don't ask how they turned it off.)

The eye twitching you're seeing is REM--and yes, you're right; that's a sign they're dreaming! Every mammal tested so far has been shown to have REM, including humans. When woken up during REM, humans will usually report being in the middle of a dream.

Radar sometimes has nightmares - whining and crying in his sleep, feet twitching, hair standing up on his spine - it's quite worrying. I speak softly to him telling him it's just a dream and gently stroke him until he settles into easier sleep. Poor lad, I wish I knew what he was dreaming

Originally Posted by xocats

Sadie and Dexter both twitch and "run" in their sleep....so cute.

I wish I knew what they were dreaming about.

Click to expand...

I know eh? I bet their dreams are about chasing mice, and running through fields..but who knows?

not only do all three of mine have very active dreams sometimes, but sid and onyx will chirp, purr, meow, whimper, etc, while their little paws are twitching. scared the CRAP out of me the first time i witnessed it; i just saw my cat start to twitch and make scary noises lol

now, i take a front row seat when i notice a dreaming kitty; it's just so d*** cute >.>

All of ours did that too. I used to worry that it was bad but never seemed to cause a problem. A light petting, not enough to wake them, would relax them so that it went away...until the next time of course.