Have you ever wondered how much your cat REALLY annoys you in your sleep? If you are a cat owner, you may simply be waking up every morning with a vague feeling of not having slept well, but without any real memory of why. 

 

One enterprising cat owner decided to solve the mystery. And what he found is frankly hilarious (because it's not me) (even though it probably IS me, actually). This short video covers his entire night in just over one minute. And it is a busy, busy night - for his cat!

 

This roly poly sleep-hating feline basically spends the entire night pestering his sleeping owner. From plucking at the covers, to excessively active grooming, to lying on his chest and staring into the man's face. Strangely (to the cat), the man rarely rouses from slumber, although you do see him reach out to pet the cat once or twice in his sleep.

 

I recently introduced a new cat to my household. On her first night with me, I awoke in the middle of the night to find her sitting beside my head, staring down at my sleeping face. Her expression was a sort of dispassionate interest, as if she was observing a mildly engrossing museum display. When she realized that I was awake, she strolled casually away. "Doop dee doo," her body language said, "Nothing suspicious going on HERE, that's for sure."

 

It was… unsettling.

 

Meanwhile, my other cat always sleeps beside me. But every night when we first get settled in, he has to spend five to ten minutes vigorously grooming himself. Lick lick lick, nibble nibble, kick with the feet, roll over, stretch, get that difficult-to-reach spot. I just lie there and wait for him to finish, so that I can go to sleep.

 

I wonder how much more sleep we would get, if we could manage to successfully exclude our cats from our rooms? "Close the door," people say. They obviously don't have cats. There's nothing a cat hates like a closed door.

 

I live in a small cabin with a bedroom loft. It doesn't have a door - just a steep ladder. When I first moved here, my cat couldn't figure out how to climb the ladder. Every night he would sit at the base of the ladder and cry pitifully, until I climbed down the ladder to get him. There is nothing as smug as a cat purring as you carry him over your shoulder up the ladder to bed because he insisted upon it.