Nap Time - You Pet May Not Be Lazy


by Tangopang - Date: 2007-06-13 - Word Count: 314 Share This!

Every species has a daily pattern of sleep and activity. Most humans operate on a cycle of nightly sleep, followed by waking with the daylight, a dip in the energy in the afternoon, alertness in the early evening, then a return to sleep in the late night.

Other animal species have rather different patterns. Some are nocturnal, waking mainly at night and sleeping in the day (many rodents operate on such a cycle). Others naturally spend much more time asleep than we do (cats and dogs, for example), taking a series of quick naps over the day.

Your pet is not being lazy when it seems to spend all its time asleep. It is only following the internal clock it has inherited from its ancestors, who took naps whenever possible if they were in a safe place, conserving energy for the daily hunt for food. Other species originated in hot climates, where they had to sleep the day away in a cool spot, then hunt for prey by evening or night.

It can be normal for some animals to spend as many as 18 hours out of every 24 in a nap and sleep mode, against humans' average of eight hours per day. Very young and very old animals also need much more sleep than healthy adults of their own species.

A wealth of information about the normal sleep behavior of your particular species of pet is available from the internet, books and veterinarians. Learn what kind of sleep your pet requires, so you will know when to leave it alone, when to play with it, and when it seems to be sleeping much more or less than usual, which may indicate health problems. So remember, do not be too quick to judge your pet the next time you catch it yawning...It could be that your pet is moving into its natural sleeping cycle - inherited from their ancestors.

Related Tags: dog, cat, pet, bird, parrot, pet health, adopt a pet, how to adopt pet

Tangopang loves animal. More of good readings at www.howto-petadoption.com Visit Pet Tips and Adoption for more pets talk.

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