Is my cat shaking and twitching when they sleep dreaming or sick?
When cats sleep, their eyes move, legs shake, or mouths open, which can look alarming if you have never seen it before. People worry whether this twitching is normal dreaming or a medical issue that requires a vet visit, though others come to realize it is just a harmless part of sleep.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Touching the cat's paws to check temperature
- 2Checking the cat's ears for fever
- 3Testing if the cat wakes up and is responsive when touched
- 4checking with a vet
- 5filming the behavior to show a vet later
- 6reassuring oneself that it is just normal dreaming
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Never seen my cat do this shaking before while sleeping. I wanna know if they're just dreaming or if I need to go see the vet to seek advice.”source ↗
“Sometimes I get to see my cat sleeping with open eyes, and his eyes keep moving, sometimes even his legs shake a little or he sleeps with an open mouth.”source ↗
“Scared the daylights out of me at first, but now I just look forward to what goofy face she'll make when she wakes up.”source ↗