Nightmares & Vivid dreams?

[jahzara]

My one cat sometimes growls in his sleep. He’s also woken up hissing. I figure these are nightmares of some kind.

He recently had a hissing dream, where he woke up, hissed, and then bit onto my other cat’s neck. He wouldn’t let go at first and actually then proceeded to step on his back and bite harder. I think this is a dominating thing? But it was weird that this started in a dream.

The next incident was similar, but different; he was sleeping and I heard him start trilling and meowing in his sleep. I look over and see he had awoken and was biting on my other cat’s neck again.

The most recent incident was him waking up meowing and looking around sleepy eyed. I gave him a pat and reassured him and he went back to sleep.

This is a very odd behavior. He’s never done dominating things before, but it’s made weirder by the connections to his dream state. It’s like he’s hallucinating or something. I feel bad for him and don't know why he is having bad dreams. I also feel bad for his brother. If I tell him to leave his brother alone, he'll snap out of it, but I worry about it happening when I’m not there.

He has been neutered since 2 months old and has never done behaviors like this before. And the dreams seem to be more frequent lately.

 

[FeebysOwner]

It is believed that cats dream, just like humans do. What their dreams are about are kind of hard to tell since they cannot convey what they remember - if anything - to us.

Has there been anything unusual or out of the ordinary going on in your home, or outside, recently that might explain the extra reaction going on?

If this isn't affecting either cat in a negative manner, you might just have to accept what you are seeing - if you can't ascertain any changes that might be attributing to his more frequent dreaming and more 'hostile' reaction.

I have included some articles, and a previous TCS thread, about this (links below), in case they might trigger some thoughts for you to consider.
Why Your Cat Has Bad Dreams (Why You Can’t Help) | Purr Craze
Can Cats Have Nightmares? - Petsolino
Do Cats Have Nightmares? 6 Reasons Behind Bad Dreams (catschef.com)
Should you wake up a cat with nightmares? | TheCatSite

 

[Purr-fect]

Arnold will sometimes make distressed noises in his sleep. He will also kick and twitch. When I see this happening i gently wake him, reassure him and he purrs and quickly goes back to sleep. I'm quite sure he dreams. It's SOOOOOO good to be there to help your best friend when he needs it.

Hopefully your cat will grow out of this phase. I would not worry much about it yet.

I would keep an eye on the dominance issue to make sure it doesn't get out of hand.

 

[Alldara]

Magnus had many, I think nightmares before too. When we first got him home. We would also gently wake him and reassure him.

He does sometimes bite Cal. And when he does, I just gently insert my finger so that it touches his tongue. He lets go then. but I'm fully aware I might get bit.

I dont think it's dominance, just that Magnus views Cal as his baby. It's always at the scruff that he bites and then he tries to walk away with him....which is weird because Calcifer is now twice his size. Calcifer isn't phased by it and usually just sits there or continues to sleep.

 

[nurseangel]

Bless his heart! My dad used to have a cat named Ming. She was sweeter and gentler than almost anyone in my whole herd. She loved the entire family but made it very clear that he was his favorite person. She used to sleep on his lap. One day, she woke up and slapped him across the face. (Don't worry; he didn't do anything bad to her after the slap. He was just puzzled as to why she did it.) I am guessing she was having a bad dream.