What do other animals dream?

Although to go off on a slightly ‘alternative’ tangent here, I like the idea that animals that dream are those which posess some kind of consciousness in the way we are familiar, and the lower, more autonomous life forms (insects, algae etc) that do not dream lack it. And by extension, that they could possess a non-physical aspect in the same way that we might.

Are you saying animals have souls?

I like that idea.

When you wander around in a non-lucid dream, you’re not conscious, but do possess some kind of intelligence. Maybe that is the kind of intellect that animals have normally. But since animals are never conscious in the way we are when we’re awake, I don’t think they could become lucid.

My cat was treated very badly as a kitten. I wonder wether he has nightmares. He still hides under beds etc, fearing strangers, however we have managed to make him more trusting.

If we evolved from apes then it’s likley they had souls.

The only reason we don’t tend to dream about pray is because we just go and buy our food. Also many human concepts like maths, science and english, and well, about everything exept instinct is also added to our dreams. Animals don’t tend to have this, and domesticated cats tend to be still in hunting mode, thus there dreams of catching pray.

I sometimes see my cats legs move, as though he’s running, and his mouth sometimes twitches.

If scientists removed the part of the brain that causes paralysis during sleep, then wouldn’t the brain automaticlly repair the damage. When a human had half of their brain removed (In a hospital program) (due to severe epelepcy), the person didn’t suddenly start moving, and it would seem, no memories are lost at all! Prehaps both sides of the brain have exactly the same knolage, or that the “soul” stors our memories.

Another interesting question is, do animals actually think, or do they just sit there sleeping, never really contious when they think.

Adam Atlas…we humans share the same neurotransmitter and the same part of the brain for dreaming as animals that dream and have rem.
Those animals also get suddenly in rem an enormous leveling up of the neurotransmitter thats responsible for memory to do its work.
So its only logic that like with us humans, were rem is important for imprints of learning processes, the same rules for animals that have rem sleep. So prob they dream of what they experienced and what is important for them (at their waking hours). But one thing is for sure…because memory is much involved in rem sleep…iam sure whatever they dream, its something that left an imprint in memory. Witch means like with us…normal life and normal behaviour.

I dont think animals dream lucid…but maybe dolphins are able to do that…because they never sleep totally and one hemisphere always is awake…so who knows.

Jeff

I think my cat has nightnmares sometimes, He has a certain meow sometimes when he sleeps that sounds like he’s scared, I wake him up when I see this because he seems distressed. I have no way of REALLY knowing what he’s dreaming about of course, but after one of these dreams, he wakes up a bit disorientated, and then becomes very affectionate… maybe I’m humanizing him, but this seems to confirm that he wants comfort. I spend more time with him then most people spend with their pets, so I wonder if he’s dreaming about being abandoned?

I think my dog dreams. When he’s asleep he runs like a manic. His legs are like a cyclone lol. But imagine if we could dream jump to their dreams and actualy communicate with them. That would be awsome.

The golde king of avalon its proven by science that cats and dogs dream and have rem sleep. Because not only they have rem sl;eep like us paralysed a bit but also their memory and emotional centre is active meaning they experience things then and their brain regulates new and old imprints.

Jeff

Well I know that cats and dogs at least dream. The reason I say this is that our cats and the dog “talk” in their sleep, and the dog actually goes through running motions haha. Her legs move like she’s running and she’ll speak like mini barks or something. My cat will literally sound like he’s carrying on a full conversation while he’s asleep. It’s weird, but super cute.

My dad thinks that the dog is chasing squirrels in her dreams when she’s running like that, because she can’t catch them and she HATES them things, and her bark type things are like little whimpers, so he thinks thats what it is lol.

My dog when he is asleep cries allot and does these cute little yelps. i wake him up cause he sounds scared… but then he kinda growls at me when i wake up…

So how many is that?! Lol, Lucky guys.

I’m really scarred to wake my cat. His old and if he wakes with a jump I might startle him to much. However my younger cat seems to wake up as soon as I go near him.

I bet that if dolphins could walk, they would be as developed in inteligents as humas.

Ya I know Jeff. Well another thing to add to my list of thing to do in a Ld. Ha.

From the book “Get a Grip on Dreams”:

“When animals and humans dream in REM sleep they lose all muscle tone. They are in effect paralyzed. But a French scientist called Michael Jouvet found a means to turn this paralysis off in a cat. The cat, while still dreaming, got up and seemingly chased a dream bird and caught and started to eat it. The cat was acting out its dream.”

I was thinking about this the other day while watching my cat sleeping and wondered as they sleep more hours than us - more chance of lucid dreams :confused:

For lucid dreams you need self reflection, and i dont think a cat has enough of that…maybe a dolphin?

Jeff

Michel Jouvet, a neurophysiologist, did experiments on cats involving disconnecting the part of the brain which prohibits them from moving when asleep.

In the research the cats chased imagined mice, hissed at other cats and acted in every way a cat is expected to.
But even cats who had never left their homes, who had never caught live animals, dreamt of the same things.

So can we deprive an animal of it’s instinct?

I’ve watched my dog do the running motion, growl, wag her tail, make muffled bark sounds and even eat (moving her mouth and tounge as though she’s eating) in her sleep.
Alot of people say dogs dont dream at all but I dont know what they have decided to base that theory on…

Good question Gov :smile:

Wonderdog as far as i can find in my books, sleep scientist believe dogs and cats have not only rem sleep but actually dream wihle they are in rem sleep.

Jeff

I’ve seen my cat while shes asleep, moving her mouth like shes eating

Hi everyone, I think Jack is talking some veyr good sense here.
It is true that the more helpless an animal is (even humans), the more he will dream. WHY? Because dreams HELP us with reality.
So even for us humans, dreams can help us learn things for real life too.
There was a study done on a group of people who have never rode a bicycle before. Half of them were told to think of bicycles and dream about them. They did. Then they gave them all bikes, the ones who had dreamt about riding bicycles actually could learn how to ride one a lot quicker than the others who had never dreamt of them.

-stranger