Am I being Paranoid?! Do cats really sleep all day!?

[Elbee]

Hello All,

Now that I am home ALL the time... I am wondering if what seems like illness is perhaps just regular behaviour?

Bee was sick starting exactly 2 weeks ago- threw up twice, wouldn't eat. All the blood work normal, ultrasound showed some inflammation of the intestines that the vet said was indicative of an enteric virus (gastroenteritis). (And yes, it is making my so very scared of a cancer, although the vet said it was not. But our last cat had a cancer come on so quickly I think it is colouring the rest of my thoughts here...)

After rehydration twice and a couple of days of appetite stimulants, he slowly started to eat after I offered him all the tastiest tidbits. He started to eat on his own 9 days ago.

He is no longer cleaning his plate of food and keeps asking for different food. He eats a bit, walks away and will come back it I put a treat on the put or change it up in some way. He is eating, just not demanding food like he did. But he will run for treats.

He also seems to be sleeping all day. In the morning he is active and bites my legs to have his supervised yard time and runs all around. Sleeps all day, and then has a couple of hours of running around in the evening. And around 11 or 12 he tucks up in bed with us for a relaxing 8-9 hour sleep (relaxing for him, he sleeps on my legs).

One poop, two pees a day. Same as he always has.

The thing is, I am usually not home until 4 so I do not know if he usually sleeps all day! I guess he did on the weekend? But now that I am watching him all the time, it seems like more?!

How much do your cats eat and sleep? How long to they take to recover from illness?

Please feel free to tell me I am being weird, I can take it!

 

[Elbee]

Should have added, a well formed poop. Quite lovely as poops go

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. As far as recovering from an illness, that depends on what is wrong and the severity of it. Is/was he treated with anything other than fluids?

Given that most of his behavior seems to be relatively normal, based on what you have described, I would just keep an eye on the amount he is eating. It is possible that feeling ill for a while makes him think the food he was eating was the cause, so he is cautious.

Unless he is extremely young, sleeping all day - especially for a cat who is typically home alone all day - is not that unusual.

It sounds like he is doing OK overall, so just be sure to watch him for any signs he demonstrated before when he first became ill.

 

[MissClouseau]

In the morning he is active and bites my legs to have his supervised yard time and runs all around. Sleeps all day, and then has a couple of hours of running around in the evening. And around 11 or 12 he tucks up in bed with us for a relaxing 8-9 hour sleep (relaxing for him, he sleeps on my legs).

Running around like that means he's not lethargic I would say. That doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't have a health problem going on but if there is something I think the chances are it's a mild problem. Food thing might be about a dental problem maybe? Or hairballs? I would check both.

You know when the weather is chilly or rainy, they tend to sleep longer warm days. Also consider the last 48 hours when you check how much he sleeps. For example, if on an average sunny, warm day my Hima sleeps 14 hours, sometimes she sleeps 7-8 hours due to being busy with something (chasing around stuff, investigating a sound, etc). The day after that she makes that up usually though and sleeps much more than her usual 14 hours. And note I have seen this with a friend, some cats stay up longer at nights when their human is asleep. So they don't really "sleep all day" but they just sleep at different hours than their human :-)

 

[Elbee]

Thank you both! I think he may associate different foods with being ill. Also, he seems to like to see what I will offer him next... Jumping on the counter and begging to see what I will put out for him. He loves novel foods. So he will eat some food and then ask for something different. This could really just be behavioural!

He was treated with fluids and electrolytes. He is only 3 and seems very healthy (we didn't meet him until he was 1 and 1/2 and he was not as "luxurious" as he is now...).

Thank you for the reassurance. I think I am just watching him too closely and looking for signs.

All right, off to virtual work!