BED MONSTER!

[Judy Barnett]

Has anyone heard of a cat causing a heart attack. At about 2.00 this morning I was jogged out of a very pleasant night's sleep by a shaking of the bed. I turn over to find a lump trying to force its way out through the top of my duvet cover. I jumped up startled with visions of John Hurt's alien infested chest in my mind and then heard this plaintive little cry, "mummy, I can't get out". So I found myself completely stripping the duvet off to get her out. Unable to get back to sleep I went down stairs to make a cup of tea to find my neighbours cat helping himself to Georgia's tea from the evening before. there then ensued a hissy match in the kitchen which culminated in me scruffing both cats, one outside the other back in the hall. It's so restful and therapeutic to have a pet!?

[Ruth B]

Apparently there is proof that having a cat reduces the blood pressure, I'm sure the study didn't take into account how much have said cat could put your blood pressure up the rest of the time.

We don't allow our cats in the bedroom at night, basically due to a double bed not being big enough for four (or six as it is now), however as one cat has a habit of getting on top of a 6' tall bookshelf to try and get in the old airing cupboard, and then when she gives up jumping straight down onto the bed, i think there would be a few heart attacks if she was allowed in. My mother did once wake up in the night thinking she was having a heart attack, pins and needles all down her left side, her left arm had no feeling in it, pressure on her chest and a difficulty in breathing. Once she started to try and move she disturbed the cat and once that had got off her all the symptoms started to recede.

Incidentally, in folklore, there is a monster that takes the form of a cat and steals a persons breath while they sleep, they always say there is some truth behind every myth.

[bobbys girl]

Been there, done that, taken the tranquilizers! You think you have problems, try that in a house with more cats than rooms. Joyce Grenfell isn't in it - 'FREDDIE! Don't do that!'

[bobbys girl]

Ruth - that's no myth!

[MarySkater]

CAUTION - SLIGHTLY RIBALD JOKE COMING UP!

Reminds me of a cartoon, which I think was by Rupert Fawcett: middle of the night, two cats on the dressing table poised to leap on to the humans in the bed, and one cat says to the other, "Remember - land on the bladder!"

[Judy Barnett]

Yes, Georgia's done that to me too

[Mayday21]

Harper, the jumper, hops up on the window sill above my bed early hours of the morning, we won’t mention the fly screen will need to be replaced - TG for security screens so she can’t get out. On deciding she’s had enough looking out launches herself from the sill landing either beside my head or on my chest!! She doesn’t even stop to apologise. Vivian.

[fjm]

I have always wondered how a cat that can land as lightly as a feather when she wishes can also hit the bed like a falling cannon ball - yet another example of cats' extraordinary powers! Pippin's secret power is spreading - he starts off in a small and manageable corner, and gradually expands to take up what feels like half the bed. The two dogs grumble but move out of his way, and I end up trapped in the sliver that is left...

[bobbys girl]

There is many a night when OH and I weave ourselves around sleeping cats - the trouble that starts when you try and move them is not worth the bloodshed!

fjm - that reminds me of our pre cat days, going to bed one cold night and finding all three of our dogs on the bed. Remember the group Three Dog Night? The name, apparently came from the idea that on a very cold night you needed three dogs on the bed to stay warm. All I can say is it must have been an enormous bed (or very small dogs! )

[fjm]

Poppy, my toy poodle, is like an automated thermostatically controlled bed warmer - when it gets cold she snuggles under the duvet with me, then when it warms up gets out again! If it is really, really cold Sophy the papillon comes under too, but the bedroom has to be near freezing before she feels the chill. The cats only want to come under when they are wet...

[Lilith]

Blood pressure? I've got it!

I used to have a Siamese who liked to sleep on my chest. I'd settle on my back and Majdhar would come and roost on top of me. I lost count of the times I had a recurring dream where I was being slowly squashed and fighting for breath.

After she died I woke one morning to a purring weight on my chest. No other cat slept there and when I looked there was nothing. Trust her!