Dreaming cats?

[missm]

Hello,
My Matti occaisionally seems to dream when she sleeps - growling, twitching and all that. I think that is normal enough. The funny thing is that during a nap (any nap, not just when I can see that she is dreaming), she suddenly jumps awake and starts meowing and chirping until I come and comfort her with cuddles. I do think that this is rather cute, and I like that she asks for me to come cuddle her like this - definitely I am not complaining, just curious

So, I thought this would be a good place to ask if anybody else has dreaming cats and maybe has an idea why Matti acts like she does

 

[ritz]

Yes, I believe Ritz dreams. She twitches, make short sounds (different from meows or purrs). She does this when she is in the deepest of sleeps (REM); it is during this time that I can trim her nails and she doesn't wake up.
The first time I saw and heard her in this type of sleep was shortly after I adopted/rescued her (*never having owned/be owned by a cat before*). She was sleeping with me and I thought she was having a bad dream from which a human would want to be awoken. So I woke her up. She was really scared, startled. She did NOT want cuddling. So now I simply let her sleep and wake up naturally.
Interestingly, the first thunderstorm we experienced together, she did want cuddling; she crawled up my chest towards my face. I happen to love thunderstorms and was able to reassure her. She bolts when someone knocks on the door, but bolts of lightning and thunder don't scare her.

 

[strange_wings]

All mammals and birds dream. And REM sleep serves as a way for the brain to learn, obviously all these animals do have the capacity to learn.

There's studies showing reptiles dream as well, I don't know if it included snakes, but I have caught my leopard geckos (a relatively simple lizard mentally) twitching in their sleep before. My turtles, when they spent their year inside as hatchlings did this, too. Just like a mammal their little feet and tails will move as if in their dream they were walking/running. Who knows what captive reptiles dream of.. Food related, maybe?

I'd imagine cat dreams run along the same lines as ours do, just in cat version.

 

[cheylink]

Kitties definitely dream, some more then others. Our beloved Sweety

, she dreamed with this intensity. Sweety would suddenly start crying, sometimes screaming out desperately in her sleep, as if she was in danger and or lost and wouldn't calm down till I would wake her up and comfort her. I only had the pleasure of living with her for the second half of her life, but we were inseparable. I couldn't figure out why she had such intense out bursts in her sleep, but the one thing that was clear is that all she needed was some love to reassure her she was safe and totally loved!