Cat Sleep Patterns
A journey of learning what I didn't know
I got my first cat in 2016. A tabby named Mochi. For six years I thought I understood how cats sleep. I was wrong about almost everything.
Mochi sleeps around 15 hours a day. Sometimes more. When I first noticed this I assumed something was wrong with her. I took her to Dr. Sarah Chen at the Eastside Animal Clinic three times in two months. Blood work came back normal every time. Dr. Chen was patient but I could tell she was getting tired of seeing me.
Mochi in her favorite sleeping spot
"Your cat is not sick," she said during that third visit. "She's a cat."
— Dr. Sarah Chen, Eastside Animal Clinic
I didn't really get what she meant.
What I Thought I Knew
All those toys... for nothing
Here's what I believed for years: cats sleep a lot because they're domesticated and bored. Indoor cats have nothing to hunt, nothing to do, so they just pass out on the couch. I built elaborate play structures. Bought every toy on the market. Scheduled four play sessions a day, 20 minutes each. I was convinced I could "fix" Mochi's excessive sleeping by giving her more stimulation.
It didn't work. She still slept 15 hours. Sometimes she'd sleep through the play sessions I'd planned. I started to think she was just a particularly lazy cat.
My friend Tom Rodriguez has three cats and a degree in animal behavior from UC Davis. Last October he stayed at my place for a week. He watched me wake Mochi up for her 2pm play session.
"Why are you doing that," he said. Not really a question.
I explained my theory. Indoor cats need stimulation. Sleeping too much is a sign of boredom. I'm being a responsible owner.
Tom didn't say anything for a while. Then: "You've had cats for six years and you still don't know how they work."
The Actual Biology
I didn't love hearing that. But Tom sat me down and walked through the basics.
Crepuscular Nature
Cats are most active during dawn and dusk. This isn't because of domestication. It's because their prey - small rodents, birds - are most active at those times.
Light Sleep (75%)
Cats in light sleep have their ears rotating, tracking sounds. Their muscles stay partially tensed. They can go from asleep to fully alert in under two seconds.
Deep REM Sleep (25%)
That's when you see the twitching paws, the little chirping sounds. This is true restorative sleep for your cat.
Energy conservation in action
The 15-hour number isn't laziness. It's energy conservation. Hunting requires explosive bursts - sprinting, pouncing, killing. A cat's metabolism is built for short intense efforts followed by long recovery periods. Mochi sleeping all afternoon isn't broken behavior. It's millions of years of predator biology.
Tom showed me a paper from the Journal of Veterinary Behavior. Researchers tracked 50 indoor cats over 12 weeks using activity monitors. Average sleep: 12.5 hours per day. Cats with more environmental enrichment slept 12.1 hours. Cats with less slept 13.2 hours. The difference was less than an hour. Stimulation helps, but it doesn't fundamentally change sleep needs.
Where I Went Wrong
I went back through my notes (yes I keep notes on my cat, I know) and realized my play sessions were all scheduled between 10am and 4pm. Peak sleep time. I was actively fighting against Mochi's biology.
I also realized I'd been interpreting her sleep positions wrong.
Curled in a Tight Ball
What I thought: She was cold
Actually: That position protects vital organs - it's a defensive posture that indicates she doesn't feel completely safe
Belly-up with Legs Splayed
What I thought: She was just being weird
Actually: That's the vulnerable position. It means maximum trust in her environment
I'd had the whole thing backwards.
Changing My Approach
November through January I restructured everything. Stopped waking her up for scheduled play. Moved interactive sessions to 6am and 7pm - right at her natural activity peaks. Put her food puzzles out at dusk instead of leaving them all day.
The changes in the first two weeks were not dramatic. Mochi still slept about 15 hours. But the quality of our play sessions changed. At 7pm she was actually engaged. Pupils dilated, ears forward, that hunting crouch. At 2pm she'd always been going through the motions.
Expert Insight from Dr. Linda Park
Dr. Linda Park at the Seattle Cat Clinic told me something useful in December. She said the total sleep hours matter less than the sleep-wake rhythm. Cats with disrupted rhythms - ones that get woken up a lot, or that live in homes with erratic schedules - show higher cortisol levels in blood tests. Stress hormones. My years of "stimulation" may have been doing more harm than good.
Current Setup
Mochi is eight now. Here's what a typical day looks like:
A Day in Mochi's Life
She wakes me up. This used to annoy me. Now I get up, we play for 15-20 minutes.
Breakfast. Wet food.
Sleep. I don't bother her.
She usually wakes up briefly, uses the litter box, drinks water.
More sleep. Light sleep mostly. If I walk through the room she'll track me with one ear but won't open her eyes.
She's up. Alert. This is when I put out the food puzzle.
Active period. Play, exploration, sitting in the window watching birds.
Dinner.
Mixed sleep and activity. She has about three or four short active periods overnight, maybe 20 minutes each. I don't know exactly what she does. Sometimes I hear her batting a toy around at 2am.
What I Tell Other Cat Owners
Every kitten owner asks the same question
My neighbor got a kitten in March. She asked me why it was sleeping so much. I almost launched into the whole explanation but caught myself.
"Cats sleep a lot," I said. "It's normal."
That's really all most people need to hear. The detailed biology stuff is interesting to me but probably not to everyone. The main thing is: don't wake them up, don't feel guilty about it, and schedule your interactions around dawn and dusk if you want them to actually participate.
I still make mistakes. Last month I bought an automatic laser pointer toy that runs on a schedule. I set it for 1pm because that's when I have my lunch break and thought it would be fun to watch. Mochi ignored it for two weeks straight. I moved it to 6:30pm. Now she chases it every day.
Eight years of cat ownership. I'm still learning how this works.