Sleeping with your cat or dog in the same bed

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Lucania said:
I see nothing wrong with a person’s Pet sleeping in the same bed. Our Dog creeps up in the middle of the night & squeezes in between DH & mine’s feet. Our Dog is 56 lbs. & our bed is a double, so it’s a tight situation. He has a nice bed on the floor at the foot of our bed, but because when we are not at home, he stays in our room & sleeps on our bed, he dosen’t quite get that while we are home, he should sleep on his bed on the floor:shrug: . It’s really no big deal because we love our Dog and to address one of your comments, he’s clean. I’m not sure what you mean or where you are going with the comment about elevating an animal to a human level by sleeping with it:confused: . As an animal lover, I find your post a bit disturbing:( .
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blaskoman said:
I know many people who are HUGE animal lovers. I don’t begrudge them for their emmotional attachments to their pets. However I do find offense when their love crosses the line (in my view). I particularly find it disturbing that many people actually share their beds with their pets. I do know of many cases in which people actually hug their pets while they sleep (whether it be for warmth or affection)…I find this wrong for a number of reasons: firstly, it is unhygenic to do so, and secondly, the act of sleeping with an animal elevates the animal to human level in a sense (which I feel God did not intend)…Wondering what your take is on this?
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Ever watch “Me or the Dog” on Animal Planet? They actually say not to have the dog in bed or always on the sofa/chair/couch, etc., since that’s pampering the dog. (It makes the dog think they’re the alpha male/female, not you, which creates behavoiral problems – at least from a person’s point of view. It’s normal to the dog.)
 
I generally find my cat Kumquat curled up at the foot of the bed–and frequently on my feet. (She’s an orange longish-hair grande dame.)
 
I had a good laugh thinking about this thread while I made dinner with my very curious kitten sitting nearby on the counter very interested in what exactly I was doing with that ground beef. At my feet sat my 85 pound dog patiently waiting for any food that may be dropped or spilled on the floor. If I give my kitten a small ball (1/2 inch) of ground beef, he will not eat it immediately, but will instead bat it around and “play” with it. I think he is pretending it is a mouse!

Usually when we eat, the animals know which child to go to, because one of them regular gives out bits of meat to the cats. The dog knows better, and patiently sleeps nearby until dinner is over and then cleans up under the table, licking up any bits the cats may have missed.

When my son went to Steubenville last week, he had his suitcase all packed and ready to go. The day before he left, the cat slept on the suitcase (zipped shut and sitting in our entryway) all day, leaving a nice depository of fur!
 
There is so much cruelty in the world and someone attacks kindness.
I love cats. I love them for their lack of the kind of twisted arrogant attitude common among humans, I love them because God gave them so many gifts including the instinct to form families and be affectionate, I love them because they can love, which is very obvious. I admire them as well because among the gifts God gave them are astounding coordination, resiliency and beauty. I also happen to enjoy the way they feel. They are soft and round and weighted just like newborns but flexible, covered in velvet and soetimes with a buttery undercoat and tail fluff like feathers. They have piercing, expressive, clear and multicolored eyes. They are useful in my life at times as well.
When I had cats, they could sleep anywhere they wanted. Being mean would have been ridiculous. They never gave me the slightest reason to be cruel to them.
They like to move around. They have a few favorite spots on the bed and a few favorite other places they rotate, from an instinct to nest in a place for a few days and then migrate. While on the bed, they are affectionate. It comforts them if I give them affection back, and since they are pleasant about it I have no reason at all not to. Then they sleep in the crook of my arm or some other place that makes me as well as them sleep very comfortably.
They are sniffers. It’s an instinct they have. No, they aren’t going to lick my mouth or my food. But when they want to smell if I’m alive or how I am, they sniff, including sniffing my breath. I find it a little cute, because they are so small, especially about the nose, and so quiet and graceful. I react by making alittle noise so they know I’m alive and they aren’t on their own (Not much to ask, is it? What creature would want to be unexpectedly trapped in a house with no way to open the door or anything else?)
I find absolutely nothing wrong with any of that.
In all this, I see no way anyone could think I treat cats like humans. If a human being jumped on my bed, sniffed my breath and tried to sleep on me I would hurt them bad. If a cat ran for office I would never vote for it. There are differences.🤷
 
I don’t think sharing a bed with an animal is a sign of disordered thinking. My cat sleeps in the bed with me. She’s not particularly dirty, although she does shed. I certainly don’t elevate her to near-human status. She is most certainly an animal in my eyes. We coexist. She sleeps where she likes. I do have rules, like she can’t go into the food preparation areas or onto the computer desk, but I don’t see the harm in her sharing my bed. My boyfriend has declared that when we get married she won’t be allowed to sleep on our bed, but that’s a couple of years away so we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
 
I have no problems with myself or someone else sleeping with their pet (“three dog night”, anyone?)

However, I did recently read that sleeping with one’s dog increased the risk of contracting MRSA, because dogs (and cats too, I suppose) can be carriers. I do tend to believe this, because when my (now very old) cat was younger, he used to climb up on my bed in the morning and lick my face (gross, I know!). I always used to get break-outs. Once I had children and my bed was too crowded for pets (!) I never got those break-outs anymore!

I also find it sorta crazy when someone treats their pet like a person (i.e., putting little shirts on their animals, making birthday cakes for pets, etc.) Dogs are dogs and they like dog things (i.e., rolling in nasty stuff in the yard, etc.) They would rather smell like dog than wear a cute little doggie shirt that says “princess”. However, I don’t think sleeping with one’s pet falls into this category of “humanizing” the pet. Sometimes sleeping is just sleeping!🤷
 
strngrnrth said:
In all this, I see no way anyone could think I treat cats like humans. If a human being jumped on my bed, sniffed my breath and tried to sleep on me I would hurt them bad. If a cat ran for office I would never vote for it. There are differences.🤷
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LOL, while funny, this one little piece from your post pretty much sums it all up! good job:thumbsup:
 
RandA said:
I also find it sorta crazy when someone treats their pet like a person (i.e., putting little shirts on their animals, making birthday cakes for pets, etc.) Dogs are dogs and they like dog things (i.e., rolling in nasty stuff in the yard, etc.) They would rather smell like dog than wear a cute little doggie shirt that says “princess”. However, I don’t think sleeping with one’s pet falls into this category of “humanizing” the pet. Sometimes sleeping is just sleeping!🤷
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Well said.
A lot of dog clothing is for very old small dogs, who lose heat pretty easily, so the owners and dogs can get enough exercise in winter without the dogs freezing. A dog needs to go outside unless there’s a run in the house (not likely).
 
blaskoman said:
I particularly find it disturbing that many people actually share their beds with their pets.

I find this wrong for a number of reasons: firstly, it is unhygenic to do so, and secondly, the act of sleeping with an animal elevates the animal to human level in a sense (which I feel God did not intend)…Wondering what your take is on this?
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My lilac point siamese never asked if he could sleep at my feet let alone be adopted when he was just a kitten! He just does!

I keep a fresh bath towel on the bed exactly where I know he likes to sleep. This I change every two days or as needed. Basically - he gets clean sheets as often as I do.

Blaskoman - I don’t look at kitty as being humanlike. Kitty is a nice cat - a creature made by God and I’ll treat him kindly as long as he lives with me. I actually often give thanks to God for kitty’s loveliness and company.
 
My kitties used to snuggle with me at night.

I guess you could say I definitely favor people over animals–my DH is horribly allergic to cats, so I gave them to my neighbor when we got married.
 
I have three cats and I’m just happy they let me sleep in the bed! 🙂

Of course, the “boys” are all Maine Coon mixes and are huge, so I’m happy they let me have any room at all.
 
aurora77 said:
…my DH is horribly allergic to cats, so I gave them to my neighbor when we got married.
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Wow! Now THAT’s LOVE!! 😉

We have two kitties and they sleep with us all the time. The little one will even curl up with me and let me snuggle her like a little stuffed animal, and the big one (doesn’t it figure) likes to sleep curled over the top of my head when it’s cold. We both (kitty and I) benefit from that arrangement when it’s blowing cold and minus 20 degrees outside. 😉

Our cats are very clean - I’ve never had a single flea or other nasty thing in this house from them, they are exclusively indoor cats.

I used to have a dog, a black lab, many years ago. She was only allowed up on the bed for a couple minutes in the morning to wake us up, but then she had to get down. No sleeping dogs in the bed - they drool. 😛

I do have to agree with Malia and others, people who share their food and kiss their animals on the mouth are totally disgusting. There IS a line to being a pet owner. Oh gosh, especially birds, they are so gross!!!

~Liza
 
SOme friends of mine had to move and so did I and it was cold. I had no place to stay one night. They had to clean their place and get out and stay somewhere else but they had the key and they made me a little pad on the floor wth a pillow and blanket. The window had to be open to air it out. They had been living in a type of apartment that shares a kitchen with unrelated apartments and the kitchen was open too, I think, for air, and I was freezing.
I woke up with five huge cats sleeping on me. They kept me warm. I probably couldn’t have slept otherwise, and would have gotten sick from lack of rest. The owner cam running in saying she was sorry her cats bothered me and I laughed. My friends came back then and laughed too. We explained how they kept me warm and anyway, no such thing as too many cozy kitties.
 
Just_wondering said:
I don’t think sharing a bed with an animal is a sign of disordered thinking. My cat sleeps in the bed with me. She’s not particularly dirty, although she does shed. I certainly don’t elevate her to near-human status. She is most certainly an animal in my eyes. We coexist. She sleeps where she likes. I do have rules, like she can’t go into the food preparation areas or onto the computer desk, but I don’t see the harm in her sharing my bed. My boyfriend has declared that when we get married she won’t be allowed to sleep on our bed, but that’s a couple of years away so we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
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Ha! Before we were married, my DH stubbornly proclaimed that we would never have cats, because he “hated” cats. He was a dog person. Period. So…we got married and soon had a baby. For Mother’s Day, guess what he bought me? A kitten! Every cat we have ever had, my DH has brought home. (we currently have 3).
 
A little-known fact about cats is that they are the world’s main promoter of kitty love.😃
 
sarita said:
I have three cats and I’m just happy they let me sleep in the bed! 🙂

Of course, the “boys” are all Maine Coon mixes and are huge, so I’m happy they let me have any room at all.
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I was going to say the same thing. My two cats live in bedroom since the rest of the apartment is a cat-free zone. I cant imagine telling them they can’t sleep on the bed. Plus as a fellow maine coon owner i dare anyone to try to get me to move my 25lb cat off the bed. he pretty much sleeps where he wants which is at the foot of the bed in his corner. Now his sister likes to sleep in the bend of my knees or on the top of the bed in her corner. Depending on her mood. But thats a cat for you. Got to love them.
 
I find this a totally bizarre post. I don’t see why OP or anyone else should concern him/herself with what other people do with their pets.

I have three cats. At night only one of them sleeps with me but during the day, one, two or all three of them may get in my bed with me if I’m resting.

My husband is a trucker and away for a couple of weeks at a time. My cats are great company. I have fibromyalgia and arthritis and just stress in general and often find it difficult to sleep. Petting Miss Kitty (or any of the others) is very relaxing and comforting to me.

I am not worried about hygiene in any way. I keep the cat hair up and am not going to “catch anything” from my cats.

As for loving and cherishing our pets, I find nothing wrong with that. It is not putting them above people or anything else. It is just showing a loyal and beloved pet that they matter, giving them a good home and a happy life.

Amie
 
I see pets as being God’s gift to mankind. When things are not going well, when we have bad days, etc., all it takes is to have your pet greet you when get home in order to know how important they are. Perhaps He gave them to us so they could be a visual reminder of His eternal love for us? Seriously, besides God, how many others truly love us unconditionally?

That said, I prefer not to have pets in the bedroom. My male cat will hide, and then sleep on the bed. But it’s kinda’ hard to get angry at a cat named Pius (for my patron saint, Pope St. Pius X).
 
I sleep with my two cats and sometimes it is hard to get in between them. I also slept with my two previous cats.

I say I sleep with them as I am sure they think it is their bed and they are being gracious letting me sleep there too. Sure they think it is their house too.

One of them will come in under the blankets, the other will not and it was the same with the previous two.

I consider them my brother and sister . I don’t think of them as my “babies” but as the independent creatures they are - and there isn’t anything much more independent than a a cat.

One of my previous cats used to check I was okay if I was ill by patting me on the cheek.
 
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