The Twitch Sleeping Thing

zissou'smom · Jun 27, 2006

You know the kitty equivalent of REM sleep when their paws and whiskers sort of vibrate/twitch in their sleep when they are very deeply asleep?

I've always heard that when kittens do that they are releasing growth hormone and so, growing, and that they stop doing it or do it rarely as they approach full-grown-ness. Is this true?

If Zissou still does it, is she still growing? She's doing it right now on my lap and just woke suddenly and made a weird noise at me, heehe!!! It used to happen every time she slept and now I rarely see it.

Does anyone have an adult cat who still does this?

MoochNNoodles · Jun 27, 2006

I remember Tiger and Glory doing that a lot. I never heard that before.

gayef · Jun 27, 2006

I once cared for a toothless old diabetic kitty (bless her heart) who scared the living bejeezes out of me when I walked into the room, found her asleep on the bed and twitching around like mad ... one of the symptoms of insulin overdose is twitching ... so I scooped her up abruptly and held her right up close to my face, calling her name out loudly 'WHITNEY!!!". Well, she came slam awake and chomped down on the bridge of my nose with those smooth old toothless gums, leaving me with two huge black eyes for 10 or so days. *LOL* Lud, I miss that cat. So, I am not certain it is limited to young cats - Whitney was pushing 19 at that time.

xxjustmusicxx · Jun 27, 2006

my cat's 13 and he still does that. i think they do that when they're dreaming, but who knows.

buzbyjlc10 · Jun 28, 2006

Oliver's 4 and my black lab, Cuddles, is 12.... both still dream on a nightly basis! Cuddles more so than Ollie! She really gets into it too.... feet, tail, lips, eyes, the occasional mid-dream "woof".... I know its REM, but I just say they're dreaming of chasing rabbits, squirrels, birds, bugs, each other.....

satai · Jun 28, 2006

Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

Does anyone have an adult cat who still does this?

All of ours are adults now, and we rarely see it - but yeah, sometimes.

In fairness, though, two of them hardly ever let you catch them asleep - walk past them and they're all like "I was just resting my eyes!"

psy · Jun 28, 2006

Mine both do it, Monkey is 6 years old. I always figured she was dreaming.

rosiemac · Jun 28, 2006

Originally Posted by gayef

I once cared for a toothless old diabetic kitty (bless her heart) who scared the living bejeezes out of me when I walked into the room, found her asleep on the bed and twitching around like mad ... one of the symptoms of insulin overdose is twitching ... so I scooped her up abruptly and held her right up close to my face, calling her name out loudly 'WHITNEY!!!". Well, she came slam awake and chomped down on the bridge of my nose with those smooth old toothless gums, leaving me with two huge black eyes for 10 or so days. *LOL* Lud, I miss that cat. So, I am not certain it is limited to young cats - Whitney was pushing 19 at that time.

Awww her heart

Rosie was twitching like mad in her sleep on my lap a couple of years ago. It worried me because she went all limp and relaxed so i gently shook her which gave her a fright, jump up and hiss at me

So needless to say i just let them dream now

keelyg · Jun 28, 2006

Yep - Tilly's 2 and she stills 'runs' in her sleep. She also laps - moving her tongue as if she's drinking and goes all twitchy. I thought she must be dreaming of running to a river - and then she kind of got there?!

zissou'smom · Jun 29, 2006

I was afraid I was going to end up with a 20-lb cat! Not that I would love her any less, it's just that she loves her hidey-holes and wouldn't fit in them anymore.
Gaye, I bet you learned to let sleeping cats lay!

I can only imagine how surprised you were!

I'm glad everyone's cats seem to do this at least occasionally, she also does that lip-smacking thing too, I think she's dreaming about eating. Or maybe she's trying to tell me something! Who knows.

The Twitch Sleeping Thing

zissou'smom

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MoochNNoodles

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gayef

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xxjustmusicxx

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buzbyjlc10

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satai

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psy

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rosiemac

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keelyg

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zissou'smom

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