CAT NAPPERS

     What would you think if you were told you had to sleep eighteen hours each day?  Think about it.  There are only twenty-four hours in a day.  If you slept for eighteen of those hours you would only have six left to eat, bathe, get dressed, do chores, go to school and do homework.  If you woke up at six o’clock in the morning you would have to go to bed at twelve o’clock at noon.  There would never be enough time to play or watch television.  Cats sleep up to eighteen hours everyday and they don’t seem to be hurried at all. 

     Some people joke and say that cats invented naps, since cats always seem to be sleeping.  They like to sleep curled up in a circle.  Cats enjoy sleeping near sources of heat, like a fireplace, radiator, or warm bed.  They love windows where the sunshine beams through.  Cats will often follow the rays of sunshine from room to room in order to curl up in a warm spot.  If there is room on the window seal cats will jump up and sleep there in the sunshine.  Of course, one of the favorite places for cats to sleep is a person’s lap.  If there is a cat nearby sometimes you can’t sit down without it jumping into your lap.  They aren’t trying to scare or harm you.  Cats just like the attention people give and a warm place to nap.

     Have you ever noticed that you get sleepy after eating a big meal?  You might have even heard someone say they were going to take a catnap after eating.  This expression began a long time ago from watching cats sleep so much.  Cats get sleepy after a meal too.  We don’t always have time to take a nap after a meal like cats do.  Cats are not lazy; they just don’t have as many things to do during the day as people do.  They don’t have to go to school, make their bed, or do dishes.  Many years ago before they became pets, cats didn’t have it this easy.  Cats had to hunt for their food to survive.  They had to be careful to watch out for other animals that might try and hurt them.  Even today cats like to sleep with their backs against something so nothing can sneak up behind them.  Sometimes cats don’t look like they are sleeping at all because their eyes are half-open.  This is a look of contentment for a cat.  Usually their tails will be relaxed, their ears upright.

     The next time you think you’re spending too much time sleeping just think about the cat.  With them cat napping isn’t something they do now and then, it’s something they do three-fourths of every day!