Just What Does Your Cat Do At Night? Secret “Cat-Cam” Gives Answer to That Elusive Question
What happens while we are sleeping? Do the cats take it upon themselves to get caught up on reading… Maybe a classic like War and Peace, but probably more likely to be Puss in Boots!
Let’s face it, if there’s one thing we’d like to know about our cats, it’s what the heck to they do at night while we are sleeping. Do they get caught up on reading? Play poker? Watch reruns of Everyone Loves Raymond? Sometimes I will wake up and find all of them sleeping on the couch, innocent and precious looking as little lambs, yet the living room floor is covered with toys and decorative pillows and a plant will have been knocked over…
Usually I don’t even get that far. Normally when I wake up, it’s to the greeting of 14 eyes staring at me and the extraordinarily loud (and completely unnecessary in my opinion) chorus of assorted pitches of meows telling Dan and I to get up. I feel that most of them sleep with us at night, because heaven knows I don’t have any room in the bed, but do they really? I’ve already shared with you the fact that Zee will venture in and out of the bedroom all night long as he brings in his nightly homage of stuffed kill to us. Is it to ward off evil spirits or just his way of ensuring this ritual will get us up every morning so that we will feed him breakfast? Either way, he is adamant that the task must be done and I shudder to think that the world might perhaps come to an early end if he did not. Never mind the Mayan calendar predictions that the world will end this December…
The other night during the Supermoon, Dan and I decided that we needed to answer the “what the heck do they do at night while we are sleeping” question and Dan set up a night cam to document the events. What he captured on camera represents about an hour’s worth of time and was relegated to the walkway area of the bedroom. The cats were extremely curious about the camera, so I can’t really say that our findings were completely genuine, as they were a bit preoccupied with the camera and we did not see into the living room. Nonetheless, the video we captured was absolutely fascinating and I think you will thoroughly enjoy the show!!
What we found to be most surprising were two things – one, that Zee would bring his stuffed kitty (he brings in between 5 – 7 toys each night and Kitty almost always makes the cut) in and out of the bedroom several times before it permanently settled on the floor, and two, that Jazz who I thought stuck to me like glue, actually does wander around a bit at night before he settles in with me. The only cat who remained completely predictable, was Harley. She stayed on the bed the whole night and was the only cat who did not make it on camera!!
How Zee is able to pick out his same favorite toys each and every night for his homage ritual never fails to amaze me…. just look at all the loot he has to rifle through!!
A special thank you to Debbie and Katie over at Glogirly and Kjelle Bus for sharing the PhotoFunia site so that we could have our sweet Zee grace the pages of a book with such style! And thank you to Caren Gittleman of Cat Chat for bringing it all to my attention via facebook!!!
The credits were already rolling and I thought this post was done… turns out there was one more surprise in store for us!! Seems Peanut has not taken too kindly to the toys that keep being stolen from HER basket every night and is now guarding them diligiently!! Beware of the vicious cat!!
Tha night cam video is a hoot! Now you need to make part two and set up the camera to run during the day while you and Dan are at work!
watched that video when you first put it up on YouTube and it was killing me not to share it but I had a feeling you were going to use it, LOVED IT!!!
OMG that last photo is simply hilarious!!!!
Love Ingrid’s idea of setting up the cam while you are at work 🙂
Thank you Caren and Ingrid for the “Day-Cam” idea – Dan actually works from home, so I can wrap the story up in a nutshell for you… they nap… A LOT!!!! Glad you enjoyed the video and I LOVE that picture of Peanut too!!
LOL!!!!! Great video, Deb! You’re cats are a complete hoot!
They sure are Robin!! Thanks for sharing the video today for others to enjoy!
Haha! Loved the video. Zee does what Austin does, except Austin’s are usually alive!! But he has to bring them to me !! Their curiosity over the camera is a hoot xx
Zee is a bit less of a hunter than Austin! I don’t know what he would do if he saw a mouse! Probably go get one of the other cats to attack it!
That sure looks right to me! We know if there are secret cameras, we just don’t care!
loved loved loved this !!!!! dont know how you get any sleep was amazed that jazz moved so much and so fast knew my fav harley was missing reallt enjoyed the night owls thank you deb and dan
Glad you enjoyed the video Deenie! You sure do know Harley well!!
And now the next question- why does everyone insist on staying with me? When I’m home, the gang stays in the front with me. At night, all the action is in the bedroom. But why?
That was a great video and they are all very busy going back and forth. I am pretty sure all mine sleep most of the night unless they come wake me up for food or something.But they are quiet. That was interesting.
Laughed out loud. What was interesting is that so much of what we see with our cats involves their interaction with us. This shows cats being cats and interacting among each other without human “distraction.”
That’s a very interesting point, Sally! I especially loved the part where they took the time to groom each other – so sweet!
We’ve done this as well. But all we really captured was the exact time they wake up and venture by the camera. I was hoping for ghosts! Or not.
Deb, what a great Caturday post! This proves cats are more mysterious than ever. Have a purr-filled weekend!
loved this post! i’ve always wondered what my cats do during the day when i’m at work but have NO CLUE how to set up a webcam!
Love the kitty procession and that is pretty amazing about the toys! so cute to watch!
It really was amazing to see on camera I HAVE CAT. The kitty train was so funny – I love how you could see the set of eyes in the background just waiting to be the next one in the room!
luvluvluv the night cam! Gotta get Mom and Dad to do that to catch me when I run up and down the stairs about 2AM…wheee!! And I foung you via blog hop and I think I am following you via email, hope so
Glad you enjoyed Savannah NanaMo!! We got your email subscribe and look forward to being friends!
Loved the video! Music was perfect for a cat parade. You certainly have an interesting and beautiful cat family!
Thank you Rosemary… and yes, they certainly are an interesting crew indeed!!
Let that camera run a few more times until they get used to it. Then see what they really do!
I think mine have always spent most of the night with me, but they get up before me. I am phenomenally difficult to awaken. One morning years ago my nightstand and everything on it–lamp, clock-radio, small boombox, books, a few other little things–was laid out on the floor next to my bed. It had to make a huge noise, and it had to be because someone jumped right over my head and knocked it over, not easy! They could get away with anything.
That was SOOOOOOOOO cool!!!!! OMC, I watched the whole thing. Just fascinating! And your music choices could not have been more perfect! I SO want to know what Katie does in the middle of the night. Thank you so much for sharing this…it must have been a TON of work! Aren’t they just the funniest most curious and mystical creatures?!
xo Glogirly
It really was fascinating Glogirly and Katie – Dan, of course, is the video genious and he did a great job putting it together with that amazing musical score! I could not believe what we captured on film – truly incredible, especially seeing Zee after all these years and how devoted he is to his task at hand!
Fascinating! Now our mom wants to put in a kitty cam to watch us!!
Oh yes Island Cats – I can well imagine that your mom would love to try it out on you guys!! I’m sure that would be fun to see!
That was HILARIOUS! I’ve never seen a kitty play with his toys like that, esp. at night time. Loved all the big eyes staring into the camera. It reminded me of something Tim Burton would film. The music was the perfect accompaniment. Needed a big smile this morning and this did the trick : )
You are spot on with the Tim Burton, Wendy!! We felt the same way with the music and the lighting!! Maybe I should send the clip to him for his next movie… I hope you will be okay – I know your move is probably a bit rough on you at the moment.
Fun post and great video! I love how their eyes glow. I guess I just always assumed that my cats were sleeping during the night. I think it’s cute how Zee carries his toys all over. Mine never do that, and they aren’t very interested in toys in general.
Julia – I loved the eyes part too!! It was so weird to see those dots in the background and then realize they were eyes! Most of the other cats don’t care at all about the toys either, other than DaBird!
Hysterically funny video, I have not laughed so much in ages. What stars they are, and what a revelation their behaviour is!
So glad we could give you a laugh Marjorie!! That’s nice to hear in light of how serious and stressful the world can be at times!