Is it Healthy to Sleep with the Family Pet?
The survey also found that 62% of cats sleep with their adult owners, and another 13% of cats sleep with children.
But is it healthy to sleep with our pets? Of course obviously if you are allergic to your dog or cat you should certainly not sleep with them no matter how much you love them. You need to allow yourself a few hours of recovery from those allergies. However, studies show most people will not put the pet out of their bed. They will either suffer with the symptoms or endure allergy shots to try to compensate for their decisions.
However other than this there is no real medical reason not to share your bed with your pet. But there is another problem with allowing your pet to sleep in your bed, they can seriously disturb your sleep. There have been many sleep studies performed due to patient complaints of insomnia, and interestingly enough, about half the patients had a dog or cat and they admitted that sleeping with their pets actually did disturb their sleep nightly.
Insomnia is a huge problem for people which can definitely lead to other more serious medical issues. Hours are spent studying the problem and trying to find the solution and then they discover they have a pet sleeping with them and everything gets a lot more clear and understandable.
Of course, for those people that don't have any problem falling asleep and staying asleep with or without a pet, it is fine to allow a dog or cat as your bed partner.
But what about sex? There is the matter of intimacy with a pet in the bed. Well that is of course, completely up to couple involved. Some are very creative with how they handle it. Some will put the pet outside the room during the time of their intimacy. Others will distract the pet with its favorite treat. Others simply don't care and ignore the pet while they are involved with their love partner.
However this has to be completely worked out between the love partners. If one of the partners is uncomfortable or objects to the audience during sex, an agreement must be reached.
It is also very important that the cat or dog does not physically come between the human couple. That intimacy of snuggling and cuddling is all important, actually more important than the actual sex, and should not be disturbed by an animal.
So if you are not allergic and you are sleeping well, and you are in agreement with your sexual partner as to whether your pet should be in or out of the bedroom, then there is not one thing wrong with sleeping with your pet.
Published by Susan Kaul
I am a registered nurse of 40 years experience. My background in nursing includes med-surg, orthopedic, cardiology, alcohol/drug withdrawal, treatment and rehab psychiatry, and the last 10 years I have been... View profile
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8 Comments
Post a CommentOur cat(s) sleep at the end of the bed near my feet, so it's usually not a problem. Plus, it's rather nice to have my feet warmed up! :)
Our dog actually prefers to sleep in his bolster bed, and it's much healthier from a pack leader point of view; however, I must admit that I put Euri on the bed when my husband travels just so I can fall asleep and not be afraid, but Euri always jumps off and goes into his own bed.
I sleep with my dog every night. :) I'll take him over a human bed partner any day (or night)! He makes me feel safe, and he doesn't snore. :)
No way could we have our animals sleep with us. I can barely sleep when my husband is in the bed
When I had pets they always slept on my bed, but I agree if someone has allergies or asthma it might not be such a good idea
Great article. I used to let my Doberman sleep on my bed unil she "leaked" on the comforter. The problem got fixed with meds, but even still, she would have an occasional accident - not what you want in your bed!
Wow Tony, What a story! You should have written that one for everyone to read. What a mess. lol
Good advice indeed. I grew up with my dog sleeping on my bed, but I don't think I would like to do that these days. My ex used to have a psychotic cocker spaniel that used to sleep on her water bed. It took offence to our making out one night and emptied it's bladder all over the matress - a full bladder I might add! This was a water bed, and the pee went all under the mattress as well. We had to empty the mattress to get it out to clean it, which meant making a hole in the screen on the window in the bedroom to poke a hose through (there was no way to get outside without a ladder to take the screen off), and when the mattress was refilled, the waveless stuff inside would not go back properly, so we had to buy a new mattress. We opted for water filled tubes with a mattress topper, then found out about six months later that one of these had leaked. The saga went on... My advice - one: don't let your pet sleep on your bed, and two: don't buy a water bed!