Do you think animals can have nightmares?

[Nikijad4210]

Do you think animals are capable of having nightmares? I'm a firm believer that they're able to dream, so it's likely animals experiance bad dreams/nightmares, too.

I suspect Abby here has nighmares, at least one a day.



I theorize that because of the kind of meows she cries out with while waking, they're very.....fast & panicky.

We adopted her almost a year and a half ago, she was a year old. All we know about her background was that she was seized from her "owner" flea-ridden, hairless, and emaciated (starved).......
Dunno what bad shit happened in her early life, but I often wonder when she wakes up hollering like that if she was dreaming about her past bad experiances....

 

[Yummybud]

I"m not sure if animals can dream, and if they dream it certainly won't be how we dream.

Everything humans think is based on language, try to think of something without also imagining the word, you can't everything we know and think and dream about is based on our language, you can't dream or think of something that you can't classify as a word.

animals obviously don't have language / words so if they dream and think it's way different that our sense of dreaming and thinking.

 

[Yummybud]

I remember my cat, IT ran away a few years ago and never came back.

 

[The Anchorman]

Totally believe they have nightmares.

We can always tell when our dog is having one. He runs like nobodies business and let's out these yelps that scare thet crap out of us sometimes.

We try to imagine how big the bone is that's chasing him.

When he's having a happy dream, his tail wags, does the the excited panting thing. Like he's found the best smelling butt in the world.

 

[guest]

Pit Bulls tend to have bad dreams .. FWIW

 

[Nikijad4210]

animals obviously don't have language / words so if they dream and think it's way different that our sense of dreaming and thinking.

Just because you don't speak in barks, chirps, meows, etc doesn't mean it's not language. Remember, there's a tribe somewhere on this planet that communicates entirely through clicking noises. Those, by your definition, are not words. They are, however, a language.

 

[PazVerdeRadical]

animals dream and communicate with each other, fact.

peace.

 

[Dan42nepa]

my dog dreams all the time.. she moves her paws around in her sleep and makes strange noises.. Also i heard once that cats meow sound is not something cats normally do, its something they do to communicate with humans.

 

[Nikijad4210]

Also i heard once that cats meow sound is not something cats normally do, its something they do to communicate with humans.

A total crock---I have 3 of them, and they talk/meow to eachother all the friggin' time. Makes me wonder exactly wtf kind of chats they have....

 

[genkisan]

I"m not sure if animals can dream, and if they dream it certainly won't be how we dream.

Everything humans think is based on language, try to think of something without also imagining the word, you can't everything we know and think and dream about is based on our language, you can't dream or think of something that you can't classify as a word.

animals obviously don't have language / words so if they dream and think it's way different that our sense of dreaming and thinking.

What a totally pompous, humanocentric way of looking at the world.

Defining and prejudging everything by the very limited scope and experience of humanity is perhaps one of our biggest weak points as a species.

 

[Dan42nepa]

A total crock---I have 3 of them, and they talk/meow to eachother all the friggin' time. Makes me wonder exactly wtf kind of chats they have....

Cats have led a paradoxical existence, from being treated like gods to being associated with witchcraft. Much of this ambivalence toward cats is probably because they remain enigmas. Although cats are often friendly and warm to people, they still behave as though their independence were total. They are mysteries to us and one of the qualities that adds to their mystique is the meow. Scientists have long speculated on the meanings of both the cats' meows and purrs. Meows are rarely heard during cat-cat interactions and it is believed to be a learned response, based on its effectiveness in getting human attention. The purr, on the other hand, is something cats are able to do from birth when they purr primarily while suckling. Purring is used in a wide variety of circumstances, not just when a cat is happy. For instance, veterinarians have noticed that some cats purr continuously when they are chronically ill or appear to be in severe pain. It is thought that they do so as a way to solicit care from humans.


Here is the link:

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/sci_update.cfm?DocID=11

 

[Guest]

I know both my cat and dog have nightmares. My cat does exactly what you described. Sometimes he startle's himself out of sleep. I have seen bout's of heavy breathing, cries when a sleep. I wonder if they dream about other animals attacking them?

 

[Dan42nepa]

I like to think my dog has happy dreams... chasing squirrels and rabbits.. My cats twitch sometimes... i think mine dream of hunting...

 

[Ruosk]

Though abstract thinking indeed is tied to having a language, I don't see why it would be required, more likely having language also helps brain to develop more complex thoughtpatterns and ways to comprehend world, and also creates new social situations Imagination is a simulation of world in our brain and images and situations are built from what is stored in our memory.

I don't see why animals would not have nightmares, many species are on pretty high evolutionary level, f.ex. pigs, cats, dogs, squids just to name a few, and though they have taken a quite different path than we, same basic functions are neccessary.

 

[reaperz]

maybe cats are talking about food . nice tuna , im hungry

 

[Popeye]

Pit Bulls tend to have bad dreams .. FWIW

my 5 month old pit makes strange noises when he's sleeping. kind of a high pitch "whoop!".

 

[qwerty]

I haven't read the entire thread, but I am certain my 2 dogs both have dreams.

 

[nycdfan042]

thats so cool..if i was a dog id be dreaming about humpin bitches!!!!!!!!!!11

 

[NserUame]

My dogs are such pussies their dreams consist of the rabbit chasing them. But yeah, animals dream. I'm pretty sure studies have shown that animals dream (rem sleep). Probably somehow a survival mechanism of some sort...how I dunno.

 

[LIMELIGHT]

my dog farts and stretches out alot in his sleep...the girl just likes to curl up by my head with her colon promptly aimed at daddys face.
dreams, of course. do you really need someone else to validate your pets dreaming for you? your pets do, what you say they do,,,my dog talks=)