Why Do Cats Cover Their Face When They Sleep

Cats make exceptionally adorable pets, and their charm is evident in many ways.

You’ve probably noticed that your kitty companion enjoys sleeping in a variety of postures. And in the majority of sleeping positions, you’ll see your fuzzy, small friend protecting its face with either its paws or its tail.

There are only two explanations for animal behavior: either it is inherited or it is learned. So why do cats sleep with their faces covered?

To keep their noses and bodies warm as they sleep, the majority of cats cover their faces. A cat typically forms a ball when it wraps its paws or tail around its face.

Cats typically cover their faces while sleeping, but there are numerous other reasons as well. This article shall highlight those for you!

Top reasons why cats cover their face when they sleep

1. Warmth And Comfort

Your cat is most likely concealing its face while sleeping to stay warm. Cats lose more body heat while sleeping since they are lying immobile. Their paws, ears, and tip of their noses will lose the majority of the heat that they produce.

They can lessen the amount of heat lost when sleeping by closely curling up into a ball or covering their faces with their paws.

Your cat might also face-plant and sleep entirely on its back. Similar to how humans snuggle up closely to sleep on a chilly winter night, this has the same effect and helps to keep their body heat within.

2. Obstructs The Light

If the weather is hot and sunny, you can rule out keeping warm as the cause of your cat’s face-covering as it sleeps because your cat is probably already friendly! It might, however, be doing anything different, like obstructing the sun’s light.

Cats are crepuscular animals, which means they spend most of the day sleeping and are most active between twilight and dawn.

Because of this, they frequently have to go to bed during the day and use their paws to cover their eyes and hide the light.

3. Silences The Noise

Your cat can be obstructing more than just light when it is napping. Another thing that might be bad for your cat’s sleep is if it buries its head to block out noise when it sleeps.

How soundly your cat sleeps will determine how likely it is that it may be awakened by a loud noise. Cats are often jittery animals.

For the majority of cats, even the smallest sound can keep them awake. This has to do with survival because wild cats must startle awake at even the slightest disturbance. They might need to leave right away if it indicates danger!

Cats may want to muffle the unsettling noises since this hazard isn’t present in our homes. Your cat may sleep with its head buried into something to block out the sounds or use its paws to shield its ears.

You must be able to distinguish between head pressing, which occurs when your cat rests their head against something in response to pain, and napping.

When you observe the latter, it’s necessary to call a veterinarian; the former is fine.

4. Security & Safety

Another possibility is that your cat is sleeping with its face covered out of comfort. While cats are predatory animals that pursue mice, birds, and other small rodents, they are also frequently preyed upon by larger animals in the wild.

Cats are most vulnerable when they are sleeping because they are not on guard for any predators seeking to catch them.

One of your cat’s most delicate body parts is its face. Their chances of surviving if they were attacked while they slept would be quite low.

Even though domestic cats won’t be attacked by predators when they sleep, this behavior has been preserved throughout evolution. Every cat has this tendency.

5. Comfort

Speaking of comfort, your cat may also sleep with its paws over its face for this reason: they find it to be more comfortable. Consider the various postures we sleep in.

Which one do you pick each night to rest in? You pick the one that feels most comfortable, correct? The same applies to your cat, therefore.

In truth, your cat’s resting position, whether it’s the cat loaf stance, an extended pose, or something more twisted, probably feels nice and comfy.

Additionally, kids will sleep better the more at ease they feel. Each of our cats will have a different perspective on which position is the coziest and most comfortable. If your cat consistently snoozes with its face covered, perhaps they simply enjoy it!

6. Weariness

It’s also possible that your cat covers its face while it sleeps out of sheer fatigue. Consider the fact that your cat not only sleeps with their paws on their faces; they also use them to brush themselves.

Cats spend most of their day either snoozing or fiercely grooming themselves. What transpires then when they pass out mid-face wash?

Your cat’s paw, as you would have imagined, falls directly on its eyes. Grooming takes up over a third of the day, so it’s understandable if our cats get tired halfway through.

Our cats may simply be too exhausted to exert the additional effort necessary to move their paws down to sleep.

7. Setting A Boundary

It’s also possible that your cat may be marking its territory if it hides its face behind something other than its paws or tail.

So how do cats delineate their domain? On their face, however, are small glands that secrete pheromone-like substances. Each cat emits a distinct set of pheromones.

Other cats can smell these compounds, but humans are not sensitive to them. Cats mark their territory and let any other cats nearby know that this area is theirs by rubbing these pheromones onto items.

8. “Do Not Disturb!” Is Said. ”

Finally, your cat may cover their face when sleeping to let you know they don’t want to be disturbed, as well as any other people or animals in the house.

They are merely requesting privacy, and the fact that their paws are covering their eyes may be a warning that you should leave your cat alone. They just want some rest; they don’t want a fuss or any attention right now.