Sleeping Issue/clingy Cat

[snowyowl1]

It is very important to me that my older cat gets enough sleep in order to repair and restore his body, brain, and immune system. Would anyone please have any advice on how to get my 11 and 1/2 year old cat to sleep more? He seems to be getting only about 10 or 11 hours of sleep when a cat his age should be getting close to 16 hours. A lot of the problem is I am home most of the time and my cat seems to have trouble sleeping if I'm not too. I wish he would just go to my bedroom and go to sleep on his own but he always wants to be in the same room as me. I am concerned about his immune system weakening and him getting sick or senile prematurely. Because I am home alot I monitor his sleep habits. His sleeping would be equivalent to me only getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep every night when I should get 7 hours minimum. Please advise.

 

[susanm9006]

Unless there is someone or something waking your cat or preventing him from sleeping he is going to get as much sleep as he needs. Just make sure there are comfy places for him to snooze in the various rooms you will be in and he will sleep if he needs to. For additional encouragement make a couple of these cat bed heated or self heating and he will find them irresistible.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I second that motion, says the woman whose cat is currently snuggled into her new heated bed. Best buy I ever made for her!

 

[Pjg8r]

I think warmth sometimes works. I have a heated throw on my couch and if I plug it in my two almost immediately curl up and go to sleep on it.

 

[susanm9006]

One other thing to mention is that if this wakefulness is a change from his past sleeping pattern you might want your vet to run a senior blood work panel on him just to make sure that he doesn’t have an overactive thyroid.

 

[snowyowl1]

Unless there is someone or something waking your cat or preventing him from sleeping he is going to get as much sleep as he needs. Just make sure there are comfy places for him to snooze in the various rooms you will be in and he will sleep if he needs to. For additional encouragement make a couple of these cat bed heated or self heating and he will find them irresistible.

Thankyou. I guess I failed to mention he only wants to sleep on my lap when I'm awake and and I can only sit still for so long, until my leg starts to fall asleep, or I have to got to the bathroom. My cat is super clingy!

 

[susanm9006]

Where he wants to sleep and where he will sleep are two different things. If you set him down often enough he will find another sleeping place.

 

[snowyowl1]

One other thing to mention is that if this wakefulness is a change from his past sleeping pattern you might want your vet to run a senior blood work panel on him just to make sure that he doesn’t have an overactive thyroid.

Thank you. My cat is already being treated for hyperthyroidism with medication twice a day and thanks for putting this important info out there. Yes, cat insomnia does exist ! Kity will soon be retested to make sure that he is still at the right dosage of medicine.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Speaking as a human who has hypothyroidism, I know that it can take a bit of fiddling with the meds before just the right balance is struck, and I'm pretty certain the same holds true with cats. He may simply need a bit of tweaking of dosages.