why does my cat just stare at me as I sleep?

vampcow

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since I'm usually asleep I don't always notice this but my fiance has mentioned it and many times during the night I have woken up and saw this.

Apparently when I sleep my cats perch themselves on either the dresser infront of the bed or at the foot of the bed and just stare at me as I sleep.

My sister also has this problem and it freaked her husband out so badly that he has to remove the cat from the room.

Keep in mind both mine and my sisters cats are very sweet and attached to us and all 4 of them were rescue cats. In fact my sister has moo's brother! and our other cats have lot in common such as being found outside after being hit by cars.

so should I be worried by my cats staring at night? I can't decided if they are just being protective of me (they HATE fiance) or they are just waiting for food and the minute I move or wake up they come over and hop on me.
 

sweets

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They're just being patient waiting for you to wake up so they can hop on you for either food or scritches. My Frantic does the same thing. The minute I wake up, he is ready to run to his bowl.
 

hwc

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Remember, cats are nocturnal and stealth ambush hunters. If your kitties were outside, they would stand and stare for hours waiting for the slightest movement from a mouse.

Just be happy they aren't gnawing on your feet while you sleep.

I've had cats get right up in my face while I sleep, checking to see if I'm awake because they want food or something. It's the feline equivalent of the licking puppy.
 

calico2222

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It IS unnerving to wake up and find a cat staring at you! Our one cat is fascinated by my husband's snoring. He keeps trying to figure out where the beast is so he constantly stalks DH if he falls asleep on the couch!
I actually wish he would kill the beast because the snoring drives me crazy sometimes!

They could also be staring at your eyelids if you are in REM sleep (where you're dreaming and your eyelids move). Or, they could just be ganging up on you sending mental messages of "feed me!".
 

buzbyjlc10

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Ollie does this - especially on the weekend mornings... someone who's up earlier will open my bedroom door, thus letting Ollie escape while mama still sleeps... after some prowling around the house, he'll come back into my room and hop on the bed (usually that doesn't wake me up, I'm a heavy sleeper) then he'll come up by my face and just stare... sometimes I somehow get that "someone's watching me" feeling and wake up to his face in mine - if I don't open my eyes, he'll take a paw, claws in, and just bop me on the face like "yo. mama. wake up!" It's cute/sometimes annoying haha
 

tab

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milo and shinobi are on my window sill in the bedroom every morning staring at me when i wake up too. dh finds this really amusing as he thinks they are willing me to wake up!

i am the only feeder in our house. we discovered all 4 of us were coming down at different times and feeding suposedly hungry kitties!


so now it is just me. i'm pretty sure they are waiting for me to wake up and give them some grub!
 

kristykitty

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Originally Posted by BuzbyJLC10

Ollie does this - especially on the weekend mornings... someone who's up earlier will open my bedroom door, thus letting Ollie escape while mama still sleeps... after some prowling around the house, he'll come back into my room and hop on the bed (usually that doesn't wake me up, I'm a heavy sleeper) then he'll come up by my face and just stare... sometimes I somehow get that "someone's watching me" feeling and wake up to his face in mine - if I don't open my eyes, he'll take a paw, claws in, and just bop me on the face like "yo. mama. wake up!" It's cute/sometimes annoying haha
your signature is so perfect for this topic!
 

krazy kat2

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Fred would sit on the nightstand and watch me sleep. If I was sick, he would sit on my pillow like he was watching over me. I had a kidney stone once, and they gave me meds that knocked me out for 18 hours. DH said Fred sat there the whole time and never slept until I woke up long enough to pet him a little. Then he laid down and went to sleep.
 

luvmy2cats

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Sorry, I had to giggle when I saw your title. This is such typical cat behavior.
Like other people have said, probably waiting to see if you will wake up. Or maybe they just find you interesting. Who knows what goes on in the mind of a cat.
 

stephanietx

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They do it because they can!
Isn't that why they do everything?!?

Actually, both of my kitties sleep during the night, so I don't have this problem. However, after the alarm goes off, they are in the bed staring over me!!
 

aswient

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My Molasses does that I open my eyes and he's right in front of me looking, when he sees my eyes open he'll go down to the bottom of the bed, I close my eyes he comes back up, I open my eyes he goes back down, we can go on like that for a while.
 

buzbyjlc10

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Oliver is also my backup alarm... I get up at 7 for work (at my new job and I also did for my old job) so if I forget to set my alarm, he'll jump back up on the bed and stomp on me at like 5 after 7... sometimes he does it on the weekends too and I have to "corporal cuddle" him and tell him it's the weekend so mama's staying asleep!
 

meowers

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Well, they stare at you, paw you real quick, and they act they did nothing... and thats how you wake up watching them watch you...and then they want food
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by vampcow

since I'm usually asleep I don't always notice this but my fiance has mentioned it and many times during the night I have woken up and saw this.

Apparently when I sleep my cats perch themselves on either the dresser infront of the bed or at the foot of the bed and just stare at me as I sleep.

My sister also has this problem and it freaked her husband out so badly that he has to remove the cat from the room.

Keep in mind both mine and my sisters cats are very sweet and attached to us and all 4 of them were rescue cats. In fact my sister has moo's brother! and our other cats have lot in common such as being found outside after being hit by cars.

so should I be worried by my cats staring at night? I can't decided if they are just being protective of me (they HATE fiance) or they are just waiting for food and the minute I move or wake up they come over and hop on me.
Alley stares at me all night long and I feel honored. What's to worry? DW does not like her staring in her face because her face is only a foot or two away and her purring keeps DW awake.
 

liljoey511

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I'll wake up and Joe will be sitting on my chest putting his paw on my mouth so I can give him his morning earwax.
 
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vampcow

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so I guess I have nothing to worry about! Its normal cat behavior!

I was just getting a little weirded out after I asked my sister about it and she said "because they want to eat your toes at night"

LOL but they are by far the world's BEST alarm clocks they aways wake me up at the same time every morning and if I DARE sleep later..they gang up on me. Moo has this new habit if I am not up when he feels I need to be up he jumps up and since I sleep on my side he walks over to my ear and MEOWS as loud as he can into it!
 

cheylink

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Originally Posted by BuzbyJLC10

Ollie does this - especially on the weekend mornings... someone who's up earlier will open my bedroom door, thus letting Ollie escape while mama still sleeps... after some prowling around the house, he'll come back into my room and hop on the bed (usually that doesn't wake me up, I'm a heavy sleeper) then he'll come up by my face and just stare... sometimes I somehow get that "someone's watching me" feeling and wake up to his face in mine - if I don't open my eyes, he'll take a paw, claws in, and just bop me on the face like "yo. mama. wake up!" It's cute/sometimes annoying haha
Maia is definitely waiting for eye contact all the time as well, she loves to play peek-a-boo!

But thankfully she is very respectful when trying to awake me, no pouncing, occasional stare down!
 

kittylover26

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Don't worry about it. For me it was scarier I once found my cat and my grandmas cat on top of a high shelf close to my bed staring down at me. When I woke I was a little freaked out and thought "were they doing this the whole time I was asleep?" That's a long time. And sometimes I like to make jokes and say that their aliens disguise as cats trying to observe us. But It doesn't bother me I actually find it cute. When I woke they were still staring at me and watching every move I made so I grabbed a camera and took a picture of them. But that was years ago. But my cat follows me everywhere, into every room I go and she'll hide behind a wall and stare at me. Or if I'm laying In bed shell lay with me infring of me and while in watching tv shell sometimes watch it with me it's so cute or shell just stare at me. I know a lot about cats ever since I was a little girl I loved reading and I loved cats. So I read a lot of books about cats. So at a young age I knew a lot about them that older people didn't know and I had to explain to them. And ever since I was a little girl I've always had cat or more growing up. And whenever they died I always got another cat the next day or few hours later. I just can't live without a cat in the house with me. I prefer not to because I love them so much. When I didn't have anyone and when I was in the worst situations crying my cats will hear me and they'll always come to comfort me. My uncle when he was around 8 both of his parents died and he lived in this really tore down small house with no roof and the neighbor it stray cats well always visit him and comfort him at night because hell cry for the death of his parents and that's why he likes cats too. But not more than me. But the staring part I've always been curious why they did that so I started reading and found out that it could be a lot of things. Hungry, thirsty , want attention but the reason they stare most of the time is because they're interested. Cats like to observe a lot. And when they stare at you you just interest them because your different from them you're not a cat they don't know what you are so they like to observe and they're interested in watching you. Thinking what is she doing? They're curious creatures and that's all they're doing
 

catitude prude

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You heathens. Cats are regarded as guardians of the Underworld. When we sleep, we are mostly in the subconsciousness (dreamland / spirit world / underworld, etc.). Cats can probably sense the energy and like it. Cats are freaks. Believe it They love darkness. They stew in dark rooms like mad philosophers, but who is to say that darkness only exists in the physical realm?

Just thoughts.

My cat does it and sometimes I'll sense it and wake up and she has this different look on her face. If I had to guess I would say it's a look of a certain pleasure, and it creeps me out. I don't mind her doing it but when I notice it, it changes everything and I can't go to sleep with her there, now somehow intrusively in my thoughts, haha. Then, that's when she's gotta go. Once to the outer room. She always comes back and tries to sneak in, smugly. This in turn bothers me somewhat, and she goes back to the outer room a second time, usually staying there. She knows what she is doing, even though I must guess. It isn't a food or a treat thing. She can eat whenever she wants in the kitchen. This is a dream issue. Probably like a cat watching an epic space aura battle occur all around our domes. I don't know. I'm also guessing that it isn't anything specific looking, or the cats would wake us, chasing something we can't see.
 
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