Should You Let your Cat Sleep in Your Bed?
Source: © Shutterstock
It is not uncommon for cat owners to let their cats sleep in their beds. However, it is important to note that this practice comes with potential problems, meaning that interested individuals might want to reevaluate their choice to see whether it is the best option for both them and their cat or not.
What Are the Pros?
First and foremost, a lot of cat owners let their cats sleep in their beds because it creates a sense of closeness with their cats. Better still, cats are some of the cutest and cuddliest animals, meaning that their presence can make sleep even more restful and relaxing. Finally, even bigger cats tend not to take up much room on the bed, which is not something that can be said for bigger dogs.
What Are the Cons?
Unfortunately, there are some serious issues with letting cats sleep on the bed as well. For instance, cats can carry a wide range of pathogens, which is perhaps unsurprising when they have to come into so much contact with their litter-boxes. This is problematic because close proximity can make it much easier for those pathogens to make the jump from cats to humans, thus increasing the chances for a number of serious medical conditions. Some examples include meningitis, cat scratch fever, and in one particularly unfortunate case, the bubonic plague, which happened because the cat was carrying plague-bearing fleas. As a result, if a human has either asthma, allergies, or a weaker than normal immune system, it tends to be a bad idea to let cats sleep in the same bed with them. In fact, the chances of pathogens are serious enough that cat owners should never let their cats sleep in close proximity to children under the age of 5 because that poses too much risk even if the cat owners have been careful to make sure that their cats are getting regular check-ups from their veterinarians.
On top of this, cat owners need to know that if they let their cats sleep on their beds, chances are good that this is going to be the situation for a long, long time to come. This is because while dogs are easy to retrain in this regard, cats are not. Theoretically, it is doable, but in practice, it is going to take a lot of time and effort, meaning that once cat owners have made said choice, they might end up getting stuck with it. However, if cat owners are thinking about retraining their cats to sleep somewhere besides their bed, there are resources out there that might help. Generally speaking, they recommend tiring out the cat before putting them to bed while making sure that they have convenient access to food, water, and even quiet cat toys in case they wake up during the middle of the night. However, they also recommend making it impossible for the cats to even approach the bedroom door lest they end up scratching on it and crying to be let in, which can be rather unpleasant to say the least.
Finally, it should be noted that cats and humans can have incompatible sleeping schedules, meaning that their routines can result in sleep disruptions for one another. After all, cats like to sleep between 12 and 16 hours on a daily basis, which are often taken in the form of multiple naps rather than long sessions. Due to this, it isn’t uncommon for cats to be active during the nighttime, which can be bothersome for light sleepers.
Further Considerations
Summed up, letting a cat sleep in the bed can have some rather unpleasant downsides. Moreover, once the choice is made, it can be tough to retrain the cat to sleep somewhere else. As a result, if this is something that a cat owner is wondering about, they need to give the matter both care and consideration to make sure that they are making the right choice in light of their personal circumstances. Otherwise, they could very well end up having serious regrets at some point in the future, which will come with some serious hassle as well as even worse potential consequences. In other words, this is a surprisingly serious matter, meaning that it warrants serious thought.
image sources
- Cat Sleeping in Bed: © Shutterstock