# Sleep...How Much is Too Much?



## christypooh402 (Jul 7, 2011)

Our new kitten is about 3 months old. We've had her almost 2 weeks. She's a Snowshoe/Himalayan/?? mix. She's been to the vet and got a clean bill of health. My question is, how much do kittens sleep on average:?: I know they are babies, and babies tend to sleep alot, but she sleeps ALOT. She took a 4 hour nap, played for a few minutes, ate, drank, pottied, then was asleep again within a half hour. And, she sleeps all night with my daughter. And, these are not the only naps she had today. She seems to sleep about 75% of the day, at least. Is this normal? My sister has 5 cats and had all of them as kittens and none of her slept this much. She seems to sleep more now than when we first brought her home. 
Would love opinions from you all!


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## Sinatra-Butters (Aug 9, 2010)

I am not sure about kittens but I know cats in general can sleep up to 20 hours per day.


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## Ripley (Jul 7, 2011)

Ripley is about 5 1/2 months old and she spends about 80% of the day sleeping. She eats, plays, wanders around, goes to the toilet and then sleeps again. It's also winter, so I have the heater on which probably helps her fall asleep. 

If the appetite is good and the playing happens it sounds as if though the kitten is happy.


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## MP2011 (Jul 17, 2011)

I had the exact same question with Lucy when she was a kitten. Her vet had told me that playing with them was a way that cats feel loved... but afterward, Lucy slept _hard_ and did not even respond to being called. I went back to the vet, thinking something must be wrong, but the vet informed me that I was likely the cause of this: I was tiring her out. (sheepish grin) Sure enough, although she is still insanely playful 7 years later, she basically outgrew her constantly heavy sleeping pattern.

I have found, however, vets seems to be ok with a phone call, even if you think it might be paranoid.


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## Robin1109 (May 8, 2011)

Kittens are likely more but even adult cats are said to sleep upwards of 17 hours a day! My first cat was a big sleeper when he came in to the house. There was no other animals for stimulation though. My new kitten doesn't sleep as much as he did because there's a cat and a dog now to play with her. But we had a lazy day on the couch Saturday and she was barely awake from when I fed her breakfast to when I fed her dinner!


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## christypooh402 (Jul 7, 2011)

Thanks everyone! I feel so much better now to know that this is normal. I guess maybe my sister's cats don't sleep quite this much because they have each other to play with, and they have a dog. It makes me want to get another kitty, but it took me forever to convince my husband that we should have one, he will not go for another one. It's not that he doesn't like animals, but he was raised with the thought that they belong outside. Tonks will not be outside, which is why it took me so long to talk him into it. And I think having only one has made it so that she is barely noticeable to him, so he's fine with her.


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## Fran (Jan 9, 2008)

You're right, kitties sleep less if there's a lot going on around them - sometimes if we are busy around the house doing interesting stuff, Gracie will postpone her big daytime nap past 1 or 2 p.m., but it's really rough on her ! Cats do sleep a lot compared to other animals...

In the wild, lions are said to sleep 20 hours a day - imagine! 

Fran


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## littlesushi (Jun 8, 2011)

they do sleep a lot! i was at home sick for a couple days last week and couldn't go to work, and i really got to see what our kitties do all day while we are working...snoozin!


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## Ripley (Jul 7, 2011)

The only way I could convince my partner to get a cat was tell him about how much cats sleep (he loves his sleep too and felt they could do it together ) 

I've had it when there were 3 cats in the house- older one slept upwards of 20 hours a day and only went out at night for a few hours to hunt (we had stables so he was our mouse control), the youngsters played and slept together a good 15 hours a day. I'm lucky if I get 6 solid hours!


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## christypooh402 (Jul 7, 2011)

*Update on Tonks' Sleeping*

Some of you may remember about a week ago I posted a question asking how much sleep was normal for kittens. Most of you that responded said that they can sleep for the majority of the day. Well, Tonks went 4 days straight sleeping ALOT. Like, she was taking 5 and 6 hour naps. I really didn't think that was normal for a kitten as my sisters kittens all played alot more than she was. Well, that 4th day, while she was eating, we noticed that she sounded conjested. I made an appt. with the vet for the next day. Sure enough, Tonks was sick. The vet thinks she brought a virus home with her from the shelter. Even though she went to the vet the day after we got her and showed no signs of being sick, he said that it could have come about after adjusting to the cleaner environment. Anyway, she has been on antibiotics for 3 days now and is feeling so much better! No conjestion, no sneezing, and no more 6 hour naps! We are really seeing her playful side now! She's so cool, and so fun! This kitty is like a tornado tearing through our house! haha I'm so glad she's feeling better! Here are a couple of pictures of her. I posted them in the "Meet My Kitty" forum already.


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