Does Your Cat Sleep Enough When You're Home All Day?

[Lenox]

When I'm home all day, such as on weekends, I notice that Mookie does not sleep much if at all while we're hanging out with her. That means she only sleeps when we do, which is around 7-9 hours a night. I'm fairly sure that on work days she sleeps twice that (and I've read 16ish is normal for cats).

How do you handle that? How do you get your cat to sleep more or go somewhere where it's quiet (TV off, etc.) so that your cat can get proper rest? Or do you just keep your cat awake 14-18 hours a day when you're home?

Mookie seems to like to hang out where the humans are all day; she won't go into another room to rest. And she seems more lethargic as a result of reduced sleep on weekends and other non-work days.

 

[Neo_23]

My girl usually sleeps when she is bored. She's awake a few hours in the morning and afternoon, and she's up throughout the evening because that's when we are mostly around and interacting with her but I'd say she gets anywhere from 14-16 hours of sleep a day.

I think if Mookie has energy to be awake at her age then it's a good thing. She'll sleep if she's really tired.

I actually read somewhere that cats in the wild sleep closer to 12 hours a day because they have less boredom. Maybe Mookie just loves your company!

 

[aliceneko]

Toffee is quite a light sleeper so tends to have literal cat naps. He has quite a lot of them during the day though; I'd say about 5 half an hour naps whenever I'm at home. Toffee often sleeps when Fudge is asleep, or if he's run out of things to do.
Fudge can sleep for much longer. He has a lot more naps than his brother and gets tired a lot more easily. His naps can last from half an hour - an hour and a half.

 

[susanm9006]

As long as you aren’t waking the cat by petting it or picking it up, I would not worry about how much sleep the cat is getting or not getting. They will get as much as they need. I do think cats sleep more when we aren’t around but that doesn’t mean that they really need all that sleep, so enjoy your weekend time with her.

 

[catlover73]

My cats prefer to be around us when we are home. Casey will come and take a nap on me when I am watching tv. He will also sleep on top of the couch. Apollo will hang out in the room we are in and take naps when he wants to. Starbuck will hang out in the room we are in upstairs and takes naps. She prefers to sleep on my desk or desk chair. I am on my desk top right now so she is asleep on our wide railing next to my desk. Sonny is sleeping under my bed right now. He will also cuddle and sleep near me on the couch. All of our cats generally come to bed with us at some point. Casey sleeps on the ottoman at the foot of our bed. Starbuck sleeps in a cubby hole in my headboard. Apollo sleeps curled up next to hubby. Sonny sleeps in the bottom corner of the bed near my feet. Casey will sometimes come and sleep in between us near the top of the bed. They do seem to still sleep when we are home but also come to use for pets and cuddles.

 

[rubysmama]

My Ruby, who's about 6 or 7, sleeps off and on when I'm around. So she probably gets close to her 18 hours a day!

I think it's sweet that Mookie wants to hang out with you when you're home. I'm sure if she was really tired, she'd have a cat nap.

Here's an interesting TCS article about cats and sleep:
Cat Sleep - More Than Just A Catnap

 

[Lenox]

Thanks, folks. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't depriving Mookie of sleep! The poor cat keeps dozing off on the couch and waking up after 5 minutes due to my movement, outside noises, or the TV.