What do our pets do at night?

[DDH]

I believe mine two dogs just sleep, unless they need to go out, well the German Shepard anyway, the little one never usually bothers us.
The big guy will pace and then stand there and stare at you. I don't know why he won't whine or something, but he doesn't he just stares you down until you wake up. It's a freaky thing to wake to. LOL

Luckily he doesn't do it very often cause I try to make sure I let them out one last time before bed.

[Starfish]

I have the perfect cat. She's 16, and we've been together through it all.

She starts out the night curled up next to me, purring and cuddling. Then, after she sleeps there for awhile, some time in the night she moves over to her cat bed which is on a chair next to my bed. This is the perfect solution, because then if she wakes during the night for a bath, etc, she doesn't wake me up with all the movement.

I have a very soft, warm sweater in her bed as a liner, and if I wake up in the night, I will take both sleeves of the sweater and fold them over her so she is all tucked in and toasty. She loves this, and I'll wake up the next morning and she will still be all tucked in, sound asleep.

[jesvetmed]

Reading these are great for a smile over my morning coffee. Aren't pets the best!? For some of you, I'd highly recommend a squirt gun for a couple of nights -- that worked to stop my cat from pouncing on my various parts or trying to wake me to play through the night!

Now, I have an older lab (don't tell her she's older -- 10 is YOUNG), but she sleeps very soundly, and luckily only the soft rhythmic breathing -- no snoring. But she does chase rabbits (or birds) off and on. She wakes for nothing as long as DH is home... that is HIS job. When he isn't there she is "on duty" and barks at everything!

The cat usually just settles as close to my legs as possible (she's quite fond of any source of body heat!). She'll sleep till 6am, then it's time to get up -- weekend or not!

Jes

[trinena]

the 2 kitties are banned from the bedroom at night but they have their own bed with a brand new electric blanket. sometimes they chase each other around and sometimes curl up with each other.

this morning the little rose my husband was trying to resuscitate was limp in the middle of the rug. we use wall vase sconces to try to keep flowers away from kitty mouths but my guess is the little one managed to jump at it.

at 6am big kitty starts the campaign to end his hunger and his meows are anything but melodious and god forbid you try to attend to your own business before feeding them - he tries to take the door down.

our dog sleeps in his huge (great dane size) crate next to us (pic of his favorite position). he dreams and makes a number of sounds - including loud cow sounds (seriously) as he stretches. he's not a morning dog so thankfully he ignores the kitties in the a.m. when we've left the door open he still sleeps in his crate or on the floor. rarely does he want be on the bed save a for a quick nap (more to annoy the kitties since the bedroom is part of their domain during the day) or to try to bury a biscuit. i think the bed's too warm for him anyhow. and the 3 of us would not fit.

btw (sort of on topic question) has anyone had problems having their dog sleep in a tent with them for camping? he has to sleep with us but he's so hyper-aware of his surroundings and restless in new places. we'll have to really tire him out during the day.

[Skierchickie]

Wow - some are more productive than others, I guess!

Well, my kitties used to play "Smack Down" when they were younger - amazing how much noise a couple of 15lb cats can make while you're trying to sleep! Now they wait for a little while after bedtime treats, and then just come to bed - one snuggled on my shins or next to my feet, and the other one under my arm for a little while.

The doggie, on the other hand, comes to bed to get her treats, and then flings herself off the bed into the darkness every time a cat makes a sound from anywhere in the house. Being half Aussie, she isn't happy unless her whole flock is together at night. The thing is, she does the flinging quite violently, so if you're dozing off, you wake up with a racing heart. Sometimes Toby meows from the doorway, or the loft, knowing she'll come and stampede him. Anyway, things settle down once Toby & Bandit come to bed, and they're all pretty much one big pile of fur by morning. Sometimes Zoe has a kitty pillow.

[Flybye]

btw (sort of on topic question) has anyone had problems having their dog sleep in a tent with them for camping? he has to sleep with us but he's so hyper-aware of his surroundings and restless in new places. we'll have to really tire him out during the day.

Hahahaha...............

My husband took our son and Grandma Millie, ancient wiener dog, camping with him two summers ago. They crawled into the tent to catch some zzzzzz's for the night, only for my husband to discover that Grandma Millie had crawled into his sleeping bag first and let her bladder loose.

It wouldn't have been funny if it had happened to ME, but since it didn't, laugh away!!

[RolliePollie]

My cats have stepped on the speaker phone button before, but they've never actually called anyone (that I know of!). They are also good at stepping on the remote and turning on the TV.

One of my cats sleeps on top of me in bed, but I know she leaves at some point during the night because I always wake up with some strange household item in bed with us. This cat is a nut. She steals stuff and carries it all over the house. I might wake up with the kitchen sponge on me, or maybe a belt, or even a card or photo that I had hanging on my bulletin board in the office. And of course, these things are always a little chewed on. She is really a very high maintenance cat. But she's very entertaining.

My other cat is obsessed with my right arm. If I sit on the couch, she's laying on my right arm. If I'm on the computer, she's laying on my right arm (yes, she's here now...I've become very proficient at typing with one hand). Sometimes she'll sleep on it at night. Other times she sleeps in front of the fire curled up in a perfect cirle. The right arm thing is weird...she has no interest in my left arm at all. And if she's on my arm, I better not disturb her or she'll bite me.

[7rider]

If my two bunz could get to the phone...they'd probably be on the phone to Pizza Hut...."Hello? I'd like to order a large Veggie Lovers', thin crust. Extra veggies. Hold the cheese!"

But...my guys are in their room at night...put to bed with a large salad, fresh hay, and water. They munch all night, knock the salad tray around, snooze under their tents. And around 6 a.m., they set up camp at the door gate, waiting for me to come down with their morning piece of banana and salad.

[Tuckervill]

My cats go outside from about 10 to midnight, then they are waiting for us to awake by 5:30. One cat wants to sleep on my chest and it's always a fight to keep him contained to one little section of the bed. If he wants a bath, and it wakes me up, I kick him off, and he knows to go, because I'm usually very angry about it.

My dogs (2) and my oldest son's dogs (2) are currently sleeping with my youngest son in his room. The boy has to fight for space on his own bed! Teenage boy funk and dog funk permeates the room, but the five of them don't seem to mind. :P I can't tolerate noisy dog tag and the scratching, snoring and licking that goes on, so they don't sleep near me. They sleep right through the night, so the boy says.

We take our dogs camping all the time. These two are not so bad in the tent. But my Jack Russells were always on alert, and when there were coons outside, they'd get to barking and wake the whole river. I've slept many a night with my hand through the harness on 10-pound Ladybug while she softly growled at whatever she could see or hear. I knew if I let her go and she decided to go for it, she could chew through the tent in seconds and be outside face to face with a coon or skunk or possum before I could catch her! She was quite a dog.

Karen

[trinena]

oh gosh Karen - Hearing about your jack russell in the tent i had an image of our dog taking our new tent down with us while he tried to run after whatever animal was lurking outside. He's 94 lbs. Maybe it's a good idea to leash him to my husband! If he got loose he'd be taken for a wolf or a CA. black bear.

[lauraelmore1033]

One of my cats is fascinated with my feet. Sometimes I'll wake up to find her stroking and nibbling on my lower legs and feet (Preciousssssss, precioussssssss,she purrs). It's really rather creepy; once I found her in the kitchen doing the same thing to a rodent (which was moaning and weeping in the most heart wrenching way).

[makbike]

I think my eight cats conspire through the night - "How can we move her to the smallest available portion of the queen size mattress?" I swear they work together once I'm asleep to move me so that they can have a majority of the mattress.

Sometimes Twister will play "ring the bell" in the middle of the night. She is fascinated with the tassel pull on the ceiling fan above my bed. She loves to leap up and smack it so it bangs against the globes. Of course when she lands she typically lands on top of me.

The dogs sleep peacefully in the living room. Gaston on the couch, Zorro on one of the chairs.

Never a dull moment in the house.

[SouthernBelle]

Just now:

There is a strange electronic beeping somewhere in the house. I track it from room to room. Finally I find Miss Kitty asleep, draped across the keyboard to my desktop.

How can that possibly be comfortable?

[makbike]

It's a cat thing and we will never, ever understand!

[F8th637]

My Aja does not sleep at all when we go camping. She's on hyper alert mode outside and protecting her humans from the wildlife out there.

She'll be turning 9 this year and has since become a big snorer. She also grooms herself A LOT. She does dream a lot at night resulting in little "woofs" and ends up all over the house: her bed, next to me on the floor, the bathroom floor, the bottom of the stairs, in front of the front door, and sometimes under the bed.

One night she was under the bed and we assume dreaming and all of a sudden heard this low, eerie howl. She scared the bejeezus out of DH who awoke in the middle of her howl. Me? I just said, "It's Aja" and rolled over to fall back asleep.