DO CATS DREAM OF ELECTRIC MICE?
Jack, my greyhound, was having an awesome dream last night. His feet were twitching in a dream run; he yipped and barked; his eyes were showing major REMs. No doubt he was either racing again on the track in Tucson, or chasing squirrels at the dog park. The REMs are a give-away of dreaming in dogs, with or without the barks. (First time I ever heard Annie bark was in her sleep -- I didn't know she could.)
Dreaming is such an interesting, still under-explored function of our sleeping minds. Sometimes I think I must be living somebody else's life because the dream bears no relation whatsoever to my own but is obviously a full-blown "story" (not just illogical scenes and images jumbled together from my daily life and my hopes and worries).
But it occurs to me that I have never seen REMs in a sleeping cat. Does this mean they don't dream? Or is their mechanism for dreaming different than ours and dogs'? Dreaming seems to be an important function of a higher consciousness -- and Nicky would scratch me to death if he thought I was suggesting his consciousness was lower than a dog's!
I don't know what to make of it. Any thoughts? Have you noticed REMs or other evidence of dreaming in your cats?
Dreaming is such an interesting, still under-explored function of our sleeping minds. Sometimes I think I must be living somebody else's life because the dream bears no relation whatsoever to my own but is obviously a full-blown "story" (not just illogical scenes and images jumbled together from my daily life and my hopes and worries).
But it occurs to me that I have never seen REMs in a sleeping cat. Does this mean they don't dream? Or is their mechanism for dreaming different than ours and dogs'? Dreaming seems to be an important function of a higher consciousness -- and Nicky would scratch me to death if he thought I was suggesting his consciousness was lower than a dog's!
I don't know what to make of it. Any thoughts? Have you noticed REMs or other evidence of dreaming in your cats?