Sleeping cats.....

[Cryllin_Myrrh]

What do you think? Do sleeping cats have DREAMS? It is said that dreams are the preservation and continuation of conciousness while the body is at rest, but many people do not believe that cats think about anything anyway. Its just a question that I never really thought about until we woke a cat up with a loud noise accidentally, and just how confused she looked; like she had just been dreaming of something else...

I dunno. Just a thought that crossed my mind.

[Nelly]

I'm sure when cats twitch and their eyelids flutter in their sleep that they're dreaming

[Cryllin_Myrrh]

I'm sure when cats twitch and their eyelids flutter in their sleep that they're dreaming

Thats kind of where my thoughts are headed... I've just never really though about the concept of dreams in OTHER animals than humans......

[Marybelle]

Not only do they dream, I'm pretty sure they have nightmares.  More than once I've watched my Isis twitch in her sleep, and then start growling.  I usually wake her up when it happens, but very carefully, as I don't want to get bit!   

The first time it happened, it scared the heck out of me.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out what she was growling at, until I realized that she was asleep.

[NutKitty]

Cats have been used in the past to study REM, so yes...  they can definitely dream.   

I modified to add this...  I found it very interesting:
http://www.psywww.com/intropsych/ch03_states/rem_sleep_in_cats.html

"Jouvet found a brain area near a structure called the locus coeruleus that was necessary for muscle relaxation during REM sleep. When this area was surgically destroyed, the animals went to sleep normally, but during paradoxical or REM sleep they hissed and scratched violently, sometimes running around the cage with their eyes closed for a minute or two as if attacking another animal. Jouvet (1967) reported, "The sleeping animal's behavior may even be so fierce as to make the experimenter recoil." Evidently the cats were acting out dreams about their favorite daytime activity: hunting."

Wow.

[Rodent]

Wow, Nutkitty, that's very interesting! Thanks for posting it! 

I believe cats dream. Even before hearing that, I've always thought they did. Sometimes they twitch in their sleep or something like that. Dogs dream, so why not cats?