7 Reasons Your Cat Loves Sleeping Beside You

My foster cat Akela is a real snuggle monster. I’ve had snuggly cats before, but she is the snuggliest by far and spends all night every night curled up beside me on the bed. Sometimes, she even burrows under the covers, which I find especially endearing. Of course she gets up throughout the night to eat and use the litter box, but she always returns to the bed after and either nuzzles into my back or squishes down into the pillow beside my head. I like to think it’s because she loves me and wants to be near me, but there’s actually more to it than that, according to cat behavior consultants Stephen Quandt of Cat Behavior Help and Joey Lusvardi of Class Act Cats.

1. Safety

All animals are vulnerable when they sleep, but prey animals, which cats are (or would be if they were in the wild), are especially sensitive to this fact. Sleeping in a group, even just a group of two, provides a certain amount of protection from predators. For one thing, it’s harder to sneak up on a group. A group can also come to the aid of one of its members in times of distress. 

Get 20% off 
PrettyLitter, just for our kin

Save on the litter with color-changing tech that helps you better care for your cat.

Get Your Coupon

It’s sweet, really. Your cat sleeps beside you because they feel safe with you. Even if they don’t sleep right next to you, just sleeping near you, even just in the same room as you is a sign they feel safe with you. 

2. Warmth

There are few things cats love more than a warm sleep spot — whether it’s a nice meaty lap, a sunlit patch of carpet, or a bed piled high with blankets. A sleeping human body gives off a lot of heat, so it’s really no surprise that cats choose to cuddle close, especially when it is cold. COme to think of it, Akela only started burrowing under the covers when the boiler in my building broke and the apartment became frigid. And now that the boiler is working again she’s back to sleeping on top of the comforter. 

3. The bed is high and comfy

“Cats like to be high up,” says Lusvardi. It allows them to survey their surroundings and contributes to their sense of safety, since they are less likely to be spotted by predators patrolling on the ground. 

Bedrooms don’t always have a lot of lofty options for cats, though. And the tops of dressers are often too cluttered with junk to accommodate a cat in search of an altitudinous perch. So often it’s bed or bust for cats who want to get high. And, of course, it doesn’t hurt that your bed is probably the softesty, coziest place in the room, if not the whole house. 

4. Affection

Obviously. If your cat didn’t feel a certain amount of affection for you, they wouldn’t choose to sleep near you. Affection in cats is closely linked to safety, though. Again, it all comes back to safety. If you make them feel safe, they will reward you with affection and one of the ways that affection is likely to manifest is in sleeping near you. 

5. Physical pressure

A lot of cats enjoy the feeling of being pressed up against something larger than themselves. It goes back to their kittenhood, when they would sleep pressed up against their mothers for warmth and safety. This doesn’t mean your cat thinks you’re their mother, but they may be trying to recreate that feeling be being as physically close to you as possible.

6. Habbit

“The longer you do something, the more comfortable it becomes and the more likely you are to do it again,” says Quandt. “Through repetition, where your cat sleeps becomes habituated and they are more likely to return to that same spot.”

7. External circumstances

Exactly where your cat sleeps, whether it is against your back, under your arm, on top of your pillow, or at the foot of the bed, really depends on your cat’s personal preference and may change as circumstances change. For instance, if you move your legs in the night and disturb them, they may relocate to your pillow or the other side of the bed to be near you but reduce the chances of being disturbed. Alternately, if they feel scared in the night — maybe from loud noises outside — they may snuggle up closer for safety. 

Are they trying to dominate you?

“Absolutely not,” says Lusvardi. “This is really important. Even when they live in groups, cats do not structure their society around dominance.”

Whether your cat chooses to sleep near you head or your feet, against your back or on top of your chest, it’s nothing to do with dominance and everything to do with the reasons listed above. It doesn’t matter if they are male or female, young or old, Persian or Siamese. Unneutered males tend to be more territorial and aggressive than fixed males, but this is not the same as them trying to dominate you. So if you’re worried that your cat is sleeping on your pillow because they think you are weak and want to show you that they are in control of you and not the other way around, don’t be. It’s really not that deep. 

Encouraging them to sleep somewhere else

Not every cat parent wants their cat to sleep beside them, and that’s fine. The key then is to offer them a spot that is more appealing. “It’s about helping your cat develop a new preference,” says Quandt. 

Adding a cat tree is a great option. It will give them a higher spot than the bed on which to rest and if you add a heating pad of some sort, they won’t need to snuggle up against you for warmth. 

Or maybe you don’t want them out of the bed entirely, just relocated to a less conspicuous spot. Quandt suggests setting up an igloo bed (again, possibly with a heating pad inside) where you would prefer they sleep and use treats to entice them to the spot. 

If you gently move them every time they fall asleep in a spot you don’t like, they will probably, eventually, stop trying to sleep there. But be careful that your additional bed space doesn’t come at the cost of your relationship. Remember that your cat sleeps near you because they trust and love you. If you start stressing them out by locking them out of the room or waking them up and moving them every time they try to get close to you, they may not be so willing to come close when you want them to. Sleeping peacefully with your cat is a great way to bond with them and well worth the price of a little bed real estate.