We’ve all seen our dogs and cats exhibit behaviors in their sleep that resemble what they do in a fully awake state. Paddling legs, whining, growling, wagging tails, chewing jowls, and twitching noses inspire us to wonder what our dogs and cats dream about.

What we know about Dogs and Cats and Dreams

Although our knowledge on this topic is very limited, the following known information helps us believe that dogs indeed experience dreams.
According to MIT News source, Matthew Wilson, a professor of neuroscience at MIT, and Kenway Louie, a graduate student in 2001, have studied the relationships between memory, sleep, and dreams.
They discovered that when rats were trained to run along a circular track for food rewards, their brains created a distinctive firing pattern of neurons (brain cells). The researchers repeated the brain monitoring while the rats were sleeping. Lo and behold, they observed the same signature brain activity pattern associated with running, whether the rats were awake or asleep. In fact, the memories played back at approximately the same speed during sleep as when the rats were awake.

Can we apply this to dogs and cats?

Can we take what is known about dreaming in rats and humans and apply this information to cats and dogs? Wilson believes we can. “My guess is — unless there is something special about rats and humans — that cats and dogs are doing exactly the same thing,” he said, according to the USA Today website.

It is known that the hippocampus, the part of the brain that collects and stores memories, is wired much the same way in all mammals. According to healthday.com, Professor Wilson says, “If you compared a hippocampus in a rat to a dog; in a cat to a human, they contain all of the same pieces.” He believes that as dogs and cats sleep, images of past events replay in their minds, much the same way people recall experiences while dreaming.

In people, it is known that most dreams occur during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Dogs and cats also experience periods of REM sleep. The Psychology Today website says that during REM, their breathing becomes more irregular and shallow. There may be muscle twitching during REM and, if one looks closely, rapid eye movements behind closed eyelids can often be observed. It is during REM sleep that behaviors thought to be associated with dreaming (legs paddling, twitching, vocalizing, etc.) are most commonly observed.

What we want to believe about dogs and cats dreaming?

When we observe our furry pets as they sleep, it’s just about impossible to imagine that they are not dreaming. Just like the rats studied by Wilson and Louie, it is tempting to believe that our four-legged best buddies are reenacting their recent experiences; playing at the dog park, sniffing in the woods, chewing on a treasured bone, and chasing squirrels.

The National Institutes of Health states that Sigmund Freud theorized that dreaming was a “safety valve” for our unconscious desires.
Perhaps he is correct, and, when our dogs sleep, they dream about catching the neighbor’s pesky cat, endless belly rubs in conjunction with unlimited dog treats, and stealing a chicken leg from the balcony!

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Till then kiss your pet good night and we’ll see each other on the next one!