Why Do Cats Sleep So Much?

Pilar (age 10) asked,

“Why do cats sleep so much?”

Thanks for your question, Pilar!

God created the feline (cat) kind on day six of creation week, with all the other land animal kinds. Before Adam and Eve disobeyed God, the cat kind (and all the other animals) ate only plants. There was no hunting or killing for food. But after Adam and Eve sinned, death entered the world, and animals began hunting one another.

Thankfully, God created all the animal kinds with the abilities they would need to adapt and survive in our fallen world. Because hunting takes a lot of a cat’s energy, they rest for many hours throughout the day to conserve their energy.

So how much do cats really sleep? Usually, between 15 and 20 hours a day—talk about a catnap! Your lazy kitty isn’t always snoozing deeply though. About three-fourths of the time, your cat is dozing shallowly in what is called slow-wave sleep (SWS). During this kind of nap, your cat’s nose and ears are still hard at work. You might even see her ears twitching. Your cat is ready to wake up and jump into action right away if she needs to.

Cats snooze deeply only about one-fourth of the time. This kind of cat napping is called REM sleep. REM sleep lasts for only a few minutes at a time before your cat goes back to shallow dozing.

Even though your pet cat probably doesn’t need to go hunting for her next meal, she likely still sleeps a lot because, well, that’s just the way God designed the cat kind!

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