Sunday, November 9, 2014

Catnap

       There are many different positions of sleeping. The picture below shows the multiple positions. Cats, like humans use some of these positions. I would say that cats sleep exactly like humans, why is that? Is it because they watch us as we sleep, or they just know how to sleep. I really don't know the answer to this question but maybe someone does. 


        The sleeping position used by my cat, Mila, would probably be "Foetus" sometimes as I observe Mila she just goes onto the couch and just lays there and takes a catnap.(Pun intended) I say catnap because it's not like she goes to sleep, she is just taking a nap any noise would wake her. As you can see Mila is sleeping in the "Foetus" form. Where she is curled up in the position a fetus would lay in.

       
         Another position Mila uses, and this is the mostly used one would be the "Starfish." Much like the picture shown above of the "Starfish" position, Mila has her little arms bent in the air, as she lies on her back. I've witnessed her sleep like thousands of times, and I think it might be her favorite. She just lays on her back with her head resting on the ground and falls asleep faster than an apple falling off of a tree.
Below are photos I have taken of Mila sleeping in the Starfish position.  










       I have seen my cat sleep many times while observing her, but she doesn't move. She lays in the exact spot she sleeps in for 15+ minutes. But when I sleep I move to different positions through a period of six hours of sleep. How does she do it? I do some research and find a sight Cats.about.com. In this sight it tells me that when cats are dozing off the cats brain produces long irregular waves called slow wave sleep and lasts up to 15 minutes to 30 minutes total. As a cat sleeps they are able to stiffen their muscles to hold them still. This way they are able to spring into motion at a moments notice.
       I continue doing research to see why humans always move during sleep and I stumble across a website Brainfacts.org.  On this site it tells me that this occurs only during a brief arousal from sleep. An EEG (electroencephalograph) signals go from "Large slow activity of the sleep state, to the low voltage fast activity of the awoken individual." Most people are awake when they shift movements, but since there is sleep inertia it causes most people to forget what happens in the last few minutes of consciousness before going back to sleep.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

National Cat Day

      29 Oct. 2014. Is the day that National Cat Day was on this year. So on Wednesday my friend comes over and she says, "Hey, its National Cat Day, you should take a Picture with your cat."
My response was,  "No it's not, I've never heard of "National Cat Day" (I used air quotes)." So as we go on talking about it.
I said, "How did you even hear about National Cat Day?"
She says, "I found it on Twitter." I go on the internet and search up "National Cat Day" and it tells me that it really was National Cat Day. So as I go on researching National Cat Day, I decided to put some of the information on my blog.
      "What a greater gift than the love of a cat?" (Charles Dickens) I find a website on National Cat Day and that is where I found this quote Nationalcatday.com. There are several different links on this page, the one I chose was "20 ways to celebrate." I only did one of the twenty ways to celebrate, number ten. "Assist an ill or elderly neighbor by cleaning their cat's litter box and playing withe their cat." I kind of did that, I just cleaned my parents's litter box and played with Mila.
       National Cat Day was founded by animal welfare advocate Colleen Paige. This celebration takes place every 29th of October, in the United States. This day was first celebrated in 2005 to help the public recognize the number of cats that need to be rescued every year. Also to encourage cat lovers to celebrate the cats in their life with unconditional love. (Wikipedia)