# How come you can tell when dogs are dreaming, but not cats? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080 "2020-04-04T22:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/21 "2020-04-05T09:14:15Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Wait just a minute, WTF? Exploding head syndrome? > > That seems like it would be a one time thing. [EXPLODING HEADS AND OTHER MEDICAL MARVELS](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1989/01/15/exploding-heads-and-other-medical-marvels/ea045bd1-ba80-4ad4-badf-085f18e0daf8/): > [@Dave Barry](#): > > Our next item was brought to our attention by Debbie and Lindsey Mackey, who alerted us to an article in the British medical journal The Lancet, with the following title: EXPLODING HEAD SYNDROME Quite frankly we were disappointed by this syndrome. We naturally assumed, from the title, that it would involve the actual explosion of a person’s head, ideally Barry Manilow’s in concert. But it turns out to be just this weenie syndrome where you wake up in the middle of the night having “a violent sensation of explosion in the head.” Big deal. We get that all the time, but you don’t see us whining to The Lancet. You see us making a mental note to drink gin from smaller containers. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/22 "2020-04-05T10:27:02Z")
My cat doesn’t start dreaming until I’m asleep. Don’t ask me how I know. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/23 "2020-04-05T11:35:16Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Okay, the obvious follow-on question: Do humans twitch, move their paws, or mew or growl when they dream? We know humans dream. > > We’ve been told that humans have some mechanisms that disconnect the motor nerves from the brain while we sleep, so we don’t act out our dreams. We’ve been told that this can happen while we’re still partly awake, being the cause of “sleep paralysis” episodes that happen to some people. We also note that some people talk in their sleep or even sleepwalk (which may entail activity even more elaborate than just walking). > > Why is this not more common in people? Why don’t dogs and cats get up and sleepwalk? It’s probably a lot harder to tell the difference between a dog or cat sleepwalking and regular movement, so they might be sleepwalking without our knowledge. As to why humans don’t seem to twitch as much (even though we do), I wonder if that is because our ancestors were more arboreal than cats and dogs, and if we did twitch we would tend to fall out of the tree. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/24 "2020-04-05T13:20:08Z")
I was watching one of my cats dreaming just yesterday. I wondered what she was dreaming about; she was making little squeaking noises and flapping one paw. The late Miss Austen, my cat who had lymphoma, used to take chemo pills. Since they were tricky things I couldn’t touch with my bare hands, I used a pill-shooter and would put her in a grooming bag to keep her still while giving her pills. I think she used to have dreams about being restrained in the grooming bag; when she was asleep, she would suddenly start to twist and struggle, forepaws pushing as if she were trying to get free of restraint. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/25 "2020-04-05T13:53:22Z")
Dogs dream about chasing rabbits. Cats dream about sleeping. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/26 "2020-04-05T15:13:09Z")
My cat occasionally sounds like she’s having a kitty nightmare of some kind, making little distressed sounds and twitching. I’ll pet her gently to wake her up after a moment of this, and she’ll often look very confused for a moment. I tell her quietly that it was just a bad dream, and she usually conks right back out. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/27 "2020-04-05T16:45:08Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > My cat occasionally sounds like she’s having a kitty nightmare of some kind, making little distressed sounds and twitching. I’ll pet her gently to wake her up after a moment of this, and she’ll often look very confused for a moment. I tell her quietly that it was just a bad dream, and she usually conks right back out. Awww… that’s sweet. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/28 "2020-04-05T17:23:21Z")
Cats don’t dream. They plot. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/29 "2020-04-06T04:41:44Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > They’re just silently waiting for _you_ to fall asleep. This is perhaps the most disturbing thought in the thread. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/30 "2020-04-06T08:09:25Z")
My cat is 16 so he sleeps 18 hours a day, usually right next to me. He starts to snore and then his front paws ‘bat’ at something, his back legs twitch, and his ears and whiskers. Sometimes I think he catches that dream mouse and is eating it, he smacks his lips. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/31 "2020-04-06T14:11:52Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > They’re just silently waiting for _you_ to fall asleep. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > This is perhaps the most disturbing thought in the thread. :eek: [Yes it is.](https://imgur.com/eKwRnuc) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/32 "2020-04-06T15:10:29Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > My cat occasionally sounds like she’s having a kitty nightmare of some kind, making little distressed sounds and twitching. I’ll pet her gently to wake her up after a moment of this, and she’ll often look very confused for a moment. I tell her quietly that it was just a bad dream, and she usually conks right back out. I’ve gently awakened dogs that seemed to be having nightmares, and they seemed to adjust to a waking state very rapidly without looking confused. If it was a really bad dream, you might expect growling or lunging before they realized they were safe, but I’ve never experienced that. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2020, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/33 "2020-04-07T05:25:18Z")
It’s my [understanding](https://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/what-do-cats-dream-about) that cats appear to mostly dream about stalking, pouncing and fighting. There have been experiments involving destroying the area of the brain in cats and other animals that keeps them from acting out their dreams, and that’s how they acted. Later less intrusive experiments with brain scans indicate the same thing. > [@](#): > > In the 1960s, sleep researcher Michel Jouvet studied the biology of REM sleep in cats through experiments that made the cats’ REM activity more visible. When REM began, instead of just lying there, the cats acted aggressively — arching their backs, pouncing and hissing as they stalked around the room. They acted as if they were looking for prey. > > Veterinary neurologist Adrian Morrison, who has written a review of this research, says cats in REM sleep also will move their heads as if they are following or watching something. The research suggests that cats dream of being on the hunt, rather than merely lazily watching the world go by. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/34 "2020-04-07T21:01:07Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > My cat doesn’t start dreaming until I’m asleep. > > Don’t ask me how I know. “I have to be home and in bed by midnight, because my dreams start then whether or not I’m asleep.” - Steven Wright ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/35 "2020-04-08T11:15:26Z")
I twitch in my sleep occasionally, and yet I’ve been told I do t have a sleep disorder. Both I and my mom will also make vocal noises when we just have fallen asleep, especially if we’ve been having a hard time getting to sleep, or are otherwise really tired. With that last part, I jus always assumed dogs probably don’t really sleep while I heir human pack is awake until they are really tired. Hence I hear the noises a nap ti, but never at night. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/36 "2020-04-08T11:32:34Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Piper Dog was snoozing and suddenly his paws, tail and muzzle started twitching. Twitching? Is that all? How about [full-on running?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2BgjH_CtIA) ---
**Author:** ![Dana\_Scully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@Dana\_Scully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dana_Scully)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/37 "2020-04-09T14:55:18Z")
It IS possible to see that a cat is dreaming. Just like humans, their eyes roll around, their paws twitch, and they sometimes growl/meow. ---
**Author:** ![Dana\_Scully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@Dana\_Scully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dana_Scully)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/38 "2020-04-09T14:58:26Z")
sweet ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080/39 "2020-04-10T01:52:11Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Cats do it all the time. No way. We have six of them, and I don’t think a single one does it more than 20 or so hours a day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-you-can-tell-when-dogs-are-dreaming-but-not-cats/851080.md?page=1)