Cats "talking" In Their Sleep

[laura mae]

Halo the cat, who has been with us for a bit over a year now, sometimes meows in her sleep. She doesn't wake up when she's doing this. They are little crackly, short meows. I assume she's dreaming. She doesn't get along super with the other cats, and there are occasional dust ups between her and Simone. And almost always she's the one pressing it. My cat Jeffery sometimes wakes himself up meowing. When this happens it seems like he's a little frightened.

When I lost a couple of cats in 2015, my vet was talking about quality of life and that cats are very much "in the present" and have no concern about the past or future. I believe it about the future to some extent, in that cats may not be concerned with their own mortality, but clearly cats have memory and recollection of the past hence the dreaming.

Years ago, one of the cats leaped onto the sliding door screen and popped it out. Suddenly the whole herd was out on the deck (100% indoors) except one. Scooter, my 17 year old was about 3 when we adopted him from the shelter. We have no idea about this part of his life. But he totally pretended that the door to outside was not open. And he's always done that. So clearly "outside" has a different memory for him. My cat Booberry was a stray and I fed him on that same deck primarily so he wouldn't eat the birds I fed. I wasn't sure if he had a home or not. He was gone for a while but then came back dragging himself up the deck stairs as his back legs were clearly in pain. We brought him inside and then to the vet when we learned he had a broken pelvis. He came back to us for safety. He healed up nicely and seems to relish his cushy life. When he looks out on the deck, I wonder if he remembers being a totally free agent. But now, he too pretends that the doors to outside do not exist. Again, it seems to me they remember at least something about outside not being safe which would suggest deeper memory than simply daily habit.

 

[susanm9006]

That cackling is the sound they usually make when they are looking at birds, so that is probably what they are dreaming about. Whether those are memories of actually chasing birds or of just seeing them out a window hard to say.

 

[Alejandra Rico]

Your vet, I think, was essentially right, though he might not have explained it on the best possible way.

It is not that cats do not have memories about the past what he probably meant, but that they do not get stuck into them as we humans sometimes do. They obviously remember things that happened to them in the past, and learn from those experiences, so any bad experience can show up in their dreams, as it happens to us too. They, however, live in the present time: you won't see a cat projecting his or her desires in the future, nor feeling pity of her/himself for that day she didn't manage to hunt a mouse.

 

[losna]

Cats definitely do remember past events. We rescued all 3 of our cats from a local shelter. One of them, Belit, had been rescued from an abusive home. You can see it in the way she behaves, particularly around food. It is very clear that food was somehow involved in her abuse, because she is very jumpy around food as though expecting to be kicked or hurt while she is eating.

Sinbad also had bad experiences. I was never told what had happened with his first foster family, but whatever it was it was so bad that the shelter took all animals out of their care and put a black mark by their name so that no other shelters would deal with them.

I mention this because both of them have periodic nightmares, which I have always assumed came from their bad experiences before we adopted them. When that happens they both cry and wail. So I wouldn't be surprised if there are some cats out there that talk normally while dreaming.

 

[danteshuman]

Cats dream. My bud Dante is a talker when he dreams and does little meows. A few times when he looked like it might not be a great dream I talked to him softly and gently petted him. Most of time I just chalk it up as cute... like Salem's soft snoring. *shrugs* About cat memories. I had one cat that ran away for 3 weeks ... he came back a little fatter and never wanted to leave the house again.

 

[Purr-fect]

Arnold will sometimes sigh deeply while sleeping....kind of cute......I wonder if he is dreaming...it seems to be a contented sigh, no sounds

of distress.

 

[catman513]

I think the vet was pretty much wrong about cats not caring about the past. Evey cat I've had has a good handle on the past. Who to watch out for, how to handle other animals, what gets them what they want. All of these things are driven by the past.

 

[Purr-fect]

I think the vet was pretty much wrong about cats not caring about the past. Evey cat I've had has a good handle on the past. Who to watch out for, how to handle other animals, what gets them what they want. All of these things are driven by the past.

Agreed.

In fact I think some cats never forget, or forgive.

Thats part of why I think a positive, loving relationship with a cat is so special. It can take a long time to lean that trust, but it can be lost very easily....precisely because they DO remember.