Does Your Cat Affect Your Sleep?

More than 80% of cat owners are having their sleep disturbed by their feline friends, reveals latest Omlet survey.

Following a discussion amongst the Omlet cat owners about the close sleeping arrangements with our pets, and the resulting impact on our daytime energy levels, we began wondering whether it is actually normal, or wise, to be allowing our cats to sleep in our beds?

Are we just soft when it comes to letting our cats get cosy at night, or are we a nation of pet slaves who value our cats happiness more than our own sleep?

To find out we decided to conduct a survey to shed light on the sleeping patterns of cats and how their nocturnal habits affect their owners. Over 900 cat owners responded and more than half (56%) said they let their cat sleep on the bed with them at night, with 40% allowing them to do so on the first day! In fact by the end of the first month of cat ownership the number has increased to 71% of owners allowing their cats into their bed at night.

A massive 84% of cat owners who allow their cat to sleep in their bedroom admitted to having their sleep disturbed by their cat – and as a result 1 in 5 cat owners sometimes resent their cat following a bad night’s sleep. Could this cosy sleeping arrangement actually be negatively impacting the nations’ relationship with their cats?

We invited these cat owners to share how exactly their cat disturbs their sleep. Many agreed that the main disturbance is due to their cats lying too close to them, purring, snoring or cleaning themselves. However, here are our top 10 favourite, more unusual, ways that cats are disturbing their owners sleep…

1. Chasing mice around the bedroom
2. Patting my face
3. Trying to eat my toes
4. Zoomies at 3am
5. Dribbling on me
6. Hairballs
7. Trying to wake me up for breakfast, or asking for a snack
8. Knocking things off shelves
9. Licking my eyelid
10. Restless dreams

A third of cat owners say they have to change their bed sheets more regularly since allowing their furry friend to sleep on their bed. Only a small number of people (12.2%) are aware that allowing cats to sleep in their bed is unhygienic.

Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine found that when you look a bit closer cats can have parasites like fleas and ringworm, which unless treated can cause health issues in humans.  Fleas for example can jump into your mouth leading to owners becoming inadvertently infected by tapeworms. Yuck.

37% of cat owners have made the wise choice to shut their bedroom door at night, saying they can’t allow their cat to sleep on the bed because their sleep gets disturbed.

1 in 4 owners wish their cat would sleep in their own bed at night – which begs the question, why don’t they?

Perhaps they’re so connected to their owner that they can’t bear to be more than 2 inches away from them, or maybe their owner has never found a cat bed which provides the same level of luxurious comfort as a king size bed and a thick, cosy duvet does?

The Maya Nook gives your cat their own little space, complete with a cosy bed, curtains and wardrobe, to create a warm, secluded and calming zone for them to sleep in complete peace, undisturbed by you and most importantly out of mischief.

Designed to look like a piece of modern furniture, the Nook looks great in any room so can be placed in your bedroom if your cat likes to be close to you, or downstairs to give you a truly undisturbed sleep while your cat enjoys a luxurious slumber in their very own cat house.

Overall 52% of cat owners said they may prefer it if their cat slept in their own bed, yet 70% of people say they don’t regret allowing their cat to sleep on their bed. So the Maya Nook might be the purrfect compromise to keep both cats and their owners happy.

This entry was posted in Cats