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Could
my Dog have an Allergy?
Curled
up on the couch, little Rover succumbs to the weight of his eyelids, drifting
off to a peaceful slumber. Soon the peaceful snoring gives way to tail wagging,
barks, lip licking, growls, whimpers, twitches, and jerks. So is Rover dreaming
about diving headfirst into a pile of yummies? Are his paws dancing in the air
because he's racing after an imaginary bunny? Or is he voicing a warning to an
imaginary mail carrier?
Sprawled
across the clean, warm laundry, little Mittens gives up licking her paws to do
what cats do best. With 13 to 23 hours per day to snooze, kitties have certainly
mastered the art of the catnap. Kitties purr, meow, knead with their little paws,
extend their claws, and twitch their whiskers. Are they simply reliving the experiences
of the past day, or is there a sprinkling of imagination too?
Cats
and dogs do have the capability to not only mimic, but to learn by trial and error-and
even by thinking the problem through independently. This ability leads many to
believe that cats and dogs take the same leaps of imagination into adventuresome
dreams as humans do.
Dogs
and humans have similar brain wave activity and sleep patterns. When first falling
asleep, dogs are in a light sleep level called slow wave sleep (SWS). During this
phase, dogs have a regular breathing pattern and can be roused easily. If you've
ever witnessed your slumbering dog bolt up onto all fours at the sound of a distant
car horn, rest assured that Rover was in this level of sleep. At this level, sleep
is restful for the mind. Mental processes are subdued, but muscle tone remains.
Once
Rover slips into deep sleep, brain wave activity increases greatly. Breathing
becomes more irregular and the eyes, although still closed, dart back and forth-perhaps
to follow a bunny hopping through the yard. This rapid eye movement, or REM, is
where dreaming occurs. This dreaming stage, which Rover will go into and out of
several times per night, is where all those quirky little movements take place.
REM sleep is restful for the body, which remains completely relaxed, but the mind
races wildly in all directions.
Although
dogs usually have shorter dreams than people do, they tend to be action-packed
adventures with much more movement and tossing about. Also, small dogs dream more
frequently than large dogs and puppies dream more than adults do.
While
the actual reason pets and humans dream is debatable, it does seem to play a part
in normal data processing and memory storage. And since dogs and cats do think
and do have memory, it's probably safe to assume that their memory stores need
to be sifted through and cleaned out during sleep. So even if Rover appears to
be suffering through a nightmare, it's best just to let him sleep. Like humans,
pets need uninterrupted sleep for healthy mental activity.
So,
are they dreaming? What do think?
