Pets Disrupt sleep (per study mentioned on TV)

Julie wrote:Ever try sleeping in a double bed (we were still young and broke ) with a Great White Pyrenees rescued from a white-out blizzard (turned out he was deaf and oblivious to car horns!) a few hrs earlier? He knew when he'd found a couple of suckers! We had to find somewhere else to sleep that night (cats just hid all over) and wondered if we'd lost our minds. Thank goodness we found his family the next day!

Last year, a dog showed up on our back deck. Found his owner a couple hours later.

As a teenager, I had a twin size bed with 3 cats and a 35lb dog. I fell out of bed frequently. I got a queen size water bed, and I literally sleep along the edge (my preference, no need), and the rest of the bed is for the cats, and my previous dog. If I ever get married, I will have to get a king size bed or make something larger.

Julie wrote:Ever try sleeping in a double bed (we were still young and broke ) with a Great White Pyrenees rescued from a white-out blizzard (turned out he was deaf and oblivious to car horns!) a few hrs earlier? He knew when he'd found a couple of suckers! We had to find somewhere else to sleep that night (cats just hid all over) and wondered if we'd lost our minds. Thank goodness we found his family the next day!

I'll see your GWP, and raise you 2 Greyhounds. Only the first 2, after they passed no more greys on the bed. We now have Sally, #6, and I suspect #7 will arrive in July. Luckily the 2 cats do not like tubing, masks or a steady breeze on my side of the bed. They just land on my legs going over to my wife.

Thanks for all the replies!

I really enjoy reading about how other CPAP'ers deal with their pets

My dog Maggie (JRT)can be a real PITA at night. Waking constantly to bark at things on and off the bed all night. The final straw for me was when she decided at 7years of age to start using the carpet as a her toilet, she has decided its too hard to go out the doggy door and down some steps (pure laziness, as she flys out there when there is something to bark at). So she is now locked into the bathroom which has the doggy door to outside installed. She has her own bed and when its winter I have a oil heater on low to take the chill out of the room (helps when I have the mad midnight dash to the loo). The first week of her in the bathroom was hell for me, bashing the door and crying under house right where my bedroom is.

But I do sleep much better without her there. My previous dog Sarah (JRT x corgi) slept in the bed with me, she was great. She was an excellent heat bag

My cat Rosie (or Puddy - her name is not what she is called ) loves to stick her rear end right up against the vent of my Swift II. Makes me glad I have a mask between us or Heaven knows what situation I'd find myself in on waking

I have a bird that i leave out 99% of the time. If I am reading in bed she may visit me so i can scratch her neck. But when
I put my cpap mask on and reach for the power button she is out of there! A couple of times she has flown in and woken me up
as she made a u turn at 2 or 3 feet when she notices I have the mask on. Funny she does not mind the noise of the machine or
me having the mask on but it must be the noise of the exhaust air that bothers her.

My avatar kitty's name is Sally. I was worried she might be upset by my cpap machine but I can only conclude that she likes it. Last night I found her sleeping next to my pillow, comfortably surrounded by my heated hose. It's awfully nice of me to go through all the trouble of getting a sleep study to provide her with a nice heated "body wrap", don't you think?

A LOT LESS than babies and kids. Even teens may be more disruptive when they don't come home at curfew and you stay up worrying and waiting.

Even if pets DO disrupt sleep, studies show that pet owners live up to 5 years longer than non-pet owners. So what's the big deal?

I have had 5 cats over the years. All were indoor cats and none of them ever woke me early in the morning to be fed. They were all "grazers" so if they wan't something to eat, just go check out their food bowl in the kitchen for kibble. Three lived more than 16 years and even as they aged and health became bad, no disruption of sleep. I have never shared my bed with anyone except my cats. Some were cuddlers and loved to be under the covers. Others preferred sleeping at the foot of the bed. One preferred to sleep high in the "eagles nest". My bed has a light bridge across two tall armoires. I built a ramp out of 2x4 covered in carpet to let the cats get up there if they wanted. Put cozy comforter and cat bed. My last cat loved to wiggle into the comforter and nestle inside. The only way I could tell she was up there was watch the comforter and I could see the rise and fall with each of her breaths.

Now I have a dog. He sleep in his crate at night right beside my bed. Occasionally he will bark to get up and go out during the night. He generally allows me to sleep in until 9 before he gets restless and wants out of crate. If there is a thunderstorm, he wants to be right beside me so I let him out of crate and up on the bed.

At least for me, none of my pets have disrupted my sleep. They provide positive health benefits. Their purring lowers blood pressure. Their snuggling provides affection and comfort.

VikingGnome wrote:A LOT LESS than babies and kids. Even teens may be more disruptive when they don't come home at curfew and you stay up worrying and waiting.

Even if pets DO disrupt sleep, studies show that pet owners live up to 5 years longer than non-pet owners. So what's the big deal?

IMHO they are merely pointing out that pets sleeping in your bed might disrupt your sleep. I suffer from insomnia and fragmented sleep (even on CPAP), so I have to get rid of all triggers out of my room, one of which happens to be my dog. Whereas there are people on here who quite happily share a bed and bedroom with animals and sleep very well.

I have two cats - Juju and Karma. They're my babies. Juju is 7 years old and we've developed a very close emotional connection - we're about the same "age" right now.

Both of them have avoided the bed since I started cpap a month ago. But early this morning I woke to find juju raising her paw over my nasal pillows - as if to feel the air flow from the exhaust. When I closed my eyes again she gingerly bit my nose just above the pillows. I think we'll be fine as long as she doesn't decide the squishy blue alien that's on my face is a threat that has to go! If she thinks it's hurting me I could see her trying to pull it off my face. Heheh

Nothing better than to wake up to a sweet furry face staring back at you.

Yeah, theyre your babies and you have to make sacrifices for them as they get older

Kiralynx wrote:Well, yeah. Pets disturb sleep.

When my Sunny Lady was developed heart issues, it disturbed my sleep a lot, because she had to have meds in the middle of the night.

When she was dying of cancer, it disturbed my sleep a lot.

Mr. Shadow is now 16 years and 3 months old. He has his issues, including intermittent incontinence which can be very disruptive... but am I gonna throw him off the bed he's slept on since he was 3 months old? No... he wears a wrap at night.

He can also be disruptive because he wants me to get up and help him on the bed because he's a bit shaky these days. Am I gonna lock him out of the bedroom just because he's old and shaky? Nope, ain't gonna happen. (For one thing, he'd sit outside barking, and that would be WAY more disruptive.)

Miss Beagle likes to come tearing back after going out and race around the bed after my husband lets her out first thing in the morning. Yeah, that's disruptive. I also have to remind my husband that it is RUDE to let her stay out in the yard and BAY, as only a Beagle can bay at 5a -- not only does it disrupt MY sleep, it wakes up the neighbors for blocks around.

Master Harper sleeps in his crate, but races up on the bed to greet me when he's first let out. Is that disruptive of sleep? Well, yeah. But he's a PUPPY. He's getting better... he now comes up and thumps down next to me and curls up for a nap until I'm ready to get up.

It's my choice: the joy my fur kids bring me far out weighs the hassles.

I'm a dog-guy. Our Australian Shepherd, Mollie, rules our roost.

Sheriff