Our Lazy Feline Friends
Fluffy’s favorite holiday is just around the corner: National Lazy Day is August 10th! Granted, the sloth is probably the animal kingdom’s champion of laziness. However, kitties aren’t very far behind. Fluffy spends as much as 20 hours a day snoozing, napping, sleeping, or dozing! A local Wichita, KS vet discusses kitty laziness below.
Sleep Schedules
Cats take their sleep schedules very seriously. If you pay close attention, you may notice that your drowsy little pet follows a fairly set schedule for her morning, midmorning, noon, afternoon, evening, and after-dinner naps. Fluffy may also curl up with you when you go to bed at night. In fact, if you work nights, she may even adjust her napping routine to sync up with yours.
Laziness Factors
Kitties operate on a sliding laziness scale. When your furball is a kitten, she’ll interchange random bursts of high-energy play sessions with lots of naps. Adult cats usually manage to operate on a ‘mere’ 14 to 16 hours of sleep every day. Senior pets are quite tired overall, and sleep up to 20 hours a day. Your feline pal may also sleep more than usual when it’s really dreary outside. (We can’t really blame Fluffy for that: rainy days do make great napping weather.)
Purrfect Napping Buddies
Fluffy really is the perfect napping pal. Her warmth, weight, soft fur, and soothing purrs make her a natural—and adorable—sleep aid. In fact, kitties have been shown to be very helpful in helping their humans relax. Studies have shown that people with furballs tend to have lower blood pressure and lower risk of strokes. Cats have also proved to be very helpful at soothing those who are dealing with stress, depression, grief, anxiety, or illness. This is why more and more of our feline pals are becoming valued ‘staff’ members at places like nursing homes and hospices.
Spoiling Your Pet
Unsurprisingly, one of the best things you can do for Fluffy is make sure that she has plenty of comfy napping spots. Store-bought beds are fine, but your kitty may also be quite content with a soft throw blanket folded up and put on or in an ottoman, chair, box, or basket. (Of course, some of our feline buddies ignore their beds and sleep in houseplants, but that’s another topic.)
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