Does Your Pet Dream? Yes!

Ever hear your dog making little muffled barking noises while sleeping? Or watch your napping cat twitch her paws or tail? Well, if you think they’re dreaming, there’s evidence to support the fact that you’re right.

In fact, dogs, cats and every mammal studied has experienced dreams, according to globalanimal.org. There are two main types of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and slow wave sleep (SWS). During these sleep stages, the brain processes information learned during the day. At some point during these stages of sleep, dreams take over and research indicates that it’s true for pets as well as humans.

And that’s not all. According to a study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, animals have complex dreams and are able to retain and recall whatever experiences they had while awake and even long sequences of events.

So the next time your dog or cat appears to be happily dreaming of chasing rabbits or playing with you…they probably are!