I don't want to get overly excited here, but last night was an historic night in our household! Poppy slept the whole night (well the whole night except for the 40mins she got locked out for hopping around on my legs non stop) in our bed :)
That's a breakthrough! As I've mentioned in the past, she is a wild one at night. Hopping, walking across your head, scratching at toes under the duvet! Not last night. Last night I headed to bed and read for a little bit. Oliver curled up on the end of the bed as usual and Poppy joined us, snuggling in a little further up.
After about 30mins she decided under the covers would be cosier and so she wriggled her way from the top down to my feet! There she stayed for most of the night (except for aforementioned hopping relapse). I woke up with aches everywhere though as all night I was afraid to move around too much lest I disturb the two sleeping beauties (Oliver spent most of the night in the crook behind my knees!)
After this momentous occasion I was browsing some articles this morning on sharing ones bed with your pet and I came across this great article on a website. It made me laugh out loud several times, which is just what I needed to sooth my sleep deprived aching body, hehehe!
Sleeping With the Enemy
Written by Stacy Mantle
The Mayo Clinic just released a new statement that states sleeping with your pets could, and I quote, "Make You Dog Tired."
My initial question is: "How long did it take these geniuses to come up with this theory”, and “How much did it cost us, as consumers, for them to complete a study that really could have been accomplished by just contacting me?" As the owner of fourteen cats, three dogs (one of which is half-coyote) and a plethora of other little creatures that may or may not be visiting at any certain time, I can attest to the fact that, of course sleeping with your pets will make you tired.
For instance, just last night in the hot deserts of Arizona, we had a huge lightening storm. Actually, it was the first of its kind since we (we meaning "desert dwellers who are actually forced to reside in Arizona due to lack of finances, and pay extraordinary electric bills as a reward") officially entered the "monsoon season" in early July. Under normal circumstances, the most catastrophic event that occurred for most people during said storm was a temporary loss of power. Not true for our household. In our household, the most catastrophic event that occurred was being bombarded by fourteen half-wild cats as they scrambled under the bed covers, three paranoid dogs as they struggled to climb up on the (thankfully) large bed, and a slightly irate husband. Obviously, this proved to be a serious disruption to an otherwise restful night of sleep.
The study continued on to say that, "...when a dog was permitted to sleep in the bedroom, it has only a 57% chance of being allowed to sleep on the bed." I find this interesting mainly because they neglected to mention the number of cats who shared their bed. This is primarily due to the humiliation of cat owners in admitting that they have no choice in the matter. If these cat owners' homes are anything like mine, they don't have, nor will they ever have, a choice on where the cat sleeps. Cats are notorious for simply sleeping where they choose, and God help the person who tries to move them. Therefore, I'm assuming that roughly 100% of the cats slept on the bed in contrast to the 57% of dogs.
But that's not all! In addition to this already disturbing trend, was reported in 21% of dogs and 7% of cats." (Again, this is more than likely due to the cat owners' reluctance to admit that they have no control over their snoring felines and where they choose to do the aforementioned snoring).
This Mayo clinic study was not complete, however, and it went on to state that, "...nearly 60 percent of their patients with pets, slept with their pets in the bedroom."
I've done the numbers, my friends, and that is a lot of pets who are disrupting the sleep of otherwise normal human beings. The Census bureau claims that there are currently 106,566,000 households in the U.S. (a figure that I can't help but think is seriously understated. But, we'll give them the benefit of the doubt). In addition to this large number of people, there are 60 million dogs, and 70 million cats that currently claim "pet" status. Now, if every household in the US has one cat and one dog who own them, then that, in essence, means that 82% of the residents in our beautiful country are being deprived of sleep each and every night. I find this interesting, as the article goes on to say that more deaths occur from falling asleep while driving than from drinking and driving.
While this study does in actuality, exist, it is obvious that they have forgotten several important points.
First, there is little hope of successfully sharing a bed with your pets, unless of course, you are like my husband, who could sleep through a nuclear attack, without any of the following events occurring:
Heat exhaustion from the body heat of all the animals accompanied by the average 110-degree desert heat.
Noise pollution from the hissing, barking, growling, and general irritation resulting from cats and dogs sharing a bed together, not to mention the snoring.
Bodily injury from the occasional night stalker cat that chooses to use your naked back as a scratching post.
But there is good news among these disturbing figures. First, the Mayo Clinic also did a study some time ago discussing the positive effects that pets have on people. These consist of lowered heart rates, a sense of calmness resulting from petting your animal, and an overall decrease in disease amongst pet owners.
So, while we may run the risk of dying in a car accident from sleep exhaustion, the good news is that you will have a much lower level of stress during the accident.
Ultimately, the risk falls to you. And I, for one, am willing to accept the potentially deadly car accident over not sleeping with my sleep depriving pets. In all, it is just a part of learning to live amongst animals without becoming one – a task unto itself.
That's a breakthrough! As I've mentioned in the past, she is a wild one at night. Hopping, walking across your head, scratching at toes under the duvet! Not last night. Last night I headed to bed and read for a little bit. Oliver curled up on the end of the bed as usual and Poppy joined us, snuggling in a little further up.
After about 30mins she decided under the covers would be cosier and so she wriggled her way from the top down to my feet! There she stayed for most of the night (except for aforementioned hopping relapse). I woke up with aches everywhere though as all night I was afraid to move around too much lest I disturb the two sleeping beauties (Oliver spent most of the night in the crook behind my knees!)
After this momentous occasion I was browsing some articles this morning on sharing ones bed with your pet and I came across this great article on a website. It made me laugh out loud several times, which is just what I needed to sooth my sleep deprived aching body, hehehe!
Sleeping With the Enemy
Written by Stacy Mantle
The Mayo Clinic just released a new statement that states sleeping with your pets could, and I quote, "Make You Dog Tired."
My initial question is: "How long did it take these geniuses to come up with this theory”, and “How much did it cost us, as consumers, for them to complete a study that really could have been accomplished by just contacting me?" As the owner of fourteen cats, three dogs (one of which is half-coyote) and a plethora of other little creatures that may or may not be visiting at any certain time, I can attest to the fact that, of course sleeping with your pets will make you tired.
For instance, just last night in the hot deserts of Arizona, we had a huge lightening storm. Actually, it was the first of its kind since we (we meaning "desert dwellers who are actually forced to reside in Arizona due to lack of finances, and pay extraordinary electric bills as a reward") officially entered the "monsoon season" in early July. Under normal circumstances, the most catastrophic event that occurred for most people during said storm was a temporary loss of power. Not true for our household. In our household, the most catastrophic event that occurred was being bombarded by fourteen half-wild cats as they scrambled under the bed covers, three paranoid dogs as they struggled to climb up on the (thankfully) large bed, and a slightly irate husband. Obviously, this proved to be a serious disruption to an otherwise restful night of sleep.
The study continued on to say that, "...when a dog was permitted to sleep in the bedroom, it has only a 57% chance of being allowed to sleep on the bed." I find this interesting mainly because they neglected to mention the number of cats who shared their bed. This is primarily due to the humiliation of cat owners in admitting that they have no choice in the matter. If these cat owners' homes are anything like mine, they don't have, nor will they ever have, a choice on where the cat sleeps. Cats are notorious for simply sleeping where they choose, and God help the person who tries to move them. Therefore, I'm assuming that roughly 100% of the cats slept on the bed in contrast to the 57% of dogs.
But that's not all! In addition to this already disturbing trend, was reported in 21% of dogs and 7% of cats." (Again, this is more than likely due to the cat owners' reluctance to admit that they have no control over their snoring felines and where they choose to do the aforementioned snoring).
This Mayo clinic study was not complete, however, and it went on to state that, "...nearly 60 percent of their patients with pets, slept with their pets in the bedroom."
I've done the numbers, my friends, and that is a lot of pets who are disrupting the sleep of otherwise normal human beings. The Census bureau claims that there are currently 106,566,000 households in the U.S. (a figure that I can't help but think is seriously understated. But, we'll give them the benefit of the doubt). In addition to this large number of people, there are 60 million dogs, and 70 million cats that currently claim "pet" status. Now, if every household in the US has one cat and one dog who own them, then that, in essence, means that 82% of the residents in our beautiful country are being deprived of sleep each and every night. I find this interesting, as the article goes on to say that more deaths occur from falling asleep while driving than from drinking and driving.
While this study does in actuality, exist, it is obvious that they have forgotten several important points.
First, there is little hope of successfully sharing a bed with your pets, unless of course, you are like my husband, who could sleep through a nuclear attack, without any of the following events occurring:
Heat exhaustion from the body heat of all the animals accompanied by the average 110-degree desert heat.
Noise pollution from the hissing, barking, growling, and general irritation resulting from cats and dogs sharing a bed together, not to mention the snoring.
Bodily injury from the occasional night stalker cat that chooses to use your naked back as a scratching post.
But there is good news among these disturbing figures. First, the Mayo Clinic also did a study some time ago discussing the positive effects that pets have on people. These consist of lowered heart rates, a sense of calmness resulting from petting your animal, and an overall decrease in disease amongst pet owners.
So, while we may run the risk of dying in a car accident from sleep exhaustion, the good news is that you will have a much lower level of stress during the accident.
Ultimately, the risk falls to you. And I, for one, am willing to accept the potentially deadly car accident over not sleeping with my sleep depriving pets. In all, it is just a part of learning to live amongst animals without becoming one – a task unto itself.
2 comments:
I love cats. I have three at the mo. Angel Heart, Bunniska aka Jack the Lad and Oscar Wilde (the cat formerly known as....).
I read a beautificious (I like to make up words!) book recently entitled 'The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats - A Journey into the Feline Heart' by a guy called Jeffrey Masson. It's a really lovely book.
I had four lil feckers sleeping at the end of my bed last year, sadly Foxey Brown took ill last summer and he now resides in a nice little resting place at the bottom of the garden under his tree :) Just from reading snippets of your blog I take it your cats are indoors all the time. I kept my floozies in until they were at least 7 to 8 months old and neutered. I trained them to use the cat flap then. They go in and out during the day. I keep them in at night. I usually get them in around 7ish (jazus you'd swear they were kids lol, but ya gota love em!) and they sleep like babies until the morn. The fresh air and playing around tires them out. Of course they are awake bright and early the next morn at around 6ish (my alarm clock for work!) so I get up and feed them and let them out. Saturday (and thank crunchie it's Friday already!) I let them out as usual in the early morn and it's great to go back to bed and sleep in for another few hours. If you do decide to let your gang out, just take about a week of total dedication to them, training them to use the flap etc and keep and eye on them and you will notice that they won't bug you at night then because they will be too tired when they venture in in the evenings. Also, if you give them about 20 minutes playing time before you head to bed, that should do the trick as well. Oscar Wilde is a little stray that has taken up residence in the last few weeks. Oh and I nearly forgot about Tiger Bellkins! He was a brazen but cute lil fecker that started visiting last year.
My gang love to smell flowers! I have a few pics of Foxey Brown with his nose stuck in a rose. I have a cute one of Bunniska with a yellow nose after sniffing some lillies :) I am constantly making icons/avatars of them. I have a feel that when I reach a ripe auld age, I'm going to be know as the strange cat girl lol :))
Hi Trinity,
It's lovely to hear about your cats :), sounds like you have your hands full there!
My two are totally indoor, we currently live in a city centre third floor apartment so allowing them out just isn't an option :(
I'd love to give them a taste of the outdoors and hopefully sometime we will have a garden for them to play in :), though knowing my two they'd probably find the nearest tree and sprawl out for a snooze lol.
I've started playing with Poppy more before bed and I think that is what is helping, it tires me out anyway :)
Thanks again for the comment and I'm going to keep and eye out for that book:)
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