When I brought home a small Chihuahua mix I rescued during the pandemic, I told myself I would let her sleep in her little crate, just like her previous dogs. “I always thought that a dog shouldn’t sleep in the bed,” I remember. To be honest, I never thought I’d make an exception for the Squeak.
Then the small one got a bad respiratory infection. I could tell she didn’t feel very well, and there were some nights when I only wanted to make sure she was OK all night, so she ended up sleeping in bed with me.
Well, guess what? Now we cuddle up every night, and that’s a problem, I think. She can only sleep if she’s next to me, and I’m not sleeping too well. So yes, we’ve hit a threshold, and we need to get her back off the bed.
What’s the case against pets sleeping in bed?
This scenario isn’t really that uncommon, as Kwane Stewart, veterinarian and founder of Project Street Vet, affirmed. In more than 25 years of practice, he has heard this story again and again, and truth be told, he has been in the same boat many times.
At first, he used to allow his dog to sleep with him in his bed, but over the years, good sleep has become increasingly harder to come by, and now he manages to keep a pet-free sleeping space.
As he advised, we need to be able to differentiate between the pet’s health and our health. As much as you are looking out for your pet’s well-being, you are also looking out for yours. Here are some of the reasons why you might not want your pet to share your bed with you.
Possible injury
Well, jumping in and out of bed is seen more like an athletic feat for our dogs than for us, and for those long-backed puppies like corgis and small breeds, whose bones are growing, or dogs with arthritis, this particular type of movement can be downright dangerous.
In fact, around 20% of all dogs suffer from some form of arthritis, and jumping on and off a bed isn’t ideal for keeping joints healthy. Dogs with a long, low build are definitely more likely than others to suffer from some form of back injury, mostly due to repetitive motion.
Dachshunds are known to be the leader in this territory. They can slip a disc, and in worse cases, become paralyzed. There’s also this potential for injury from falling off a bed while dreaming or suffering from a seizure. With cats, however, the likelihood of injury from falling or jumping is definitely less. As Stewart said, “Older cats do have a high incidence of arthritis, which plenty of people aren’t aware of.”
As for cats, the likelihood of injury from falling or jumping is less in general. But older cats are known to have a high incidence of arthritis, which many people don’t even realize. After the age of 9, so many cats might start to experience pain in their joints, which can definitely make it harder for them to jump up and down from their favorite places.
If you spot your cat sitting there and looking at their spot, instead of walking over and jumping right up, that’s a pretty good sign they might have an issue. This can also be a good thing to discuss with your veterinarian, since there are certain treatments to help reduce the pain.
Well, it’s not just the players who could get injured. In fact, groggy humans making midnight visits to the bathroom might be tripped up by pets.
The threat of parasites
The second you invite your pet onto the bed, you might also invite fleas and thicks, which are known to climb aboard your pets while they are still outside (especially throughout warmer months), and burrow deep into their fur and feed on their blood, which means possibly yours, too, as soon as they have hitchhiked into your house.
Not only do fleas and ticks cause you discomfort and itchiness, but they can also infest your home, and their bites might lead to infection. As far as ticks go, their bites can lead to Lyme disease in pets and humans.
Dogs, especially those who spend plenty of time outdoors, are more likely to carry fleas and ticks than cats. “Cats can become so fastidious that, even if they get only one flea, they are desperately grooming themselves.
They might catch a random flea before it can find a home and breed,” as veterinarians explain. However, flea and tick preventive treatments are still advised for both cats and dogs, especially if they spend any amount of time outdoors, or are in contact with other pets who might be spending time outdoors.
Pets can also transmit ringworm to their humans, and many vets recall spotting ringworm spots on pet owners in their own clinic, generally when the pet sleeps in the bed, because that’s the first place for close-up cuddling. Since ringworm can be transmitted by skin-to-skin contact, it’s still worth keeping an eye on your pet for circular spots of hair loss on their bodies.
Poor sleep quality
If you happen to have a dog or cat who sleeps quite soundly, it might not bother you to have pets in your bed. All in all, half of pet owners allow a pet, whether it’s a dog, a cat, or other animals, to sleep on their bed, as Australian researchers have concluded.
It’s quite hard, in fact, to imagine the bed would still be a “meeting place” if the sleep were significantly disrupted. However, a 2017 study from the Mayo Clinic on the effect of dogs on human sleep in the home discovered that, in general, sleeping with a dog in the bedroom didn’t actually hinder sleep, but having their dog on the bed did.
However, it’s worth taking into consideration that Michael J. Breus, clinical sleep specialist and founder of The Sleep Doctor, still thinks that most people fall back asleep quite fast, even if their pet wakes them with movement or snoring. Unless the sleeper has something to complain about, he doesn’t see these disruptions as problematic.
Even if cats are generally smaller than their canine friends, some pet parents still find them increasingly more disruptive to sleep. Moreover, in Stewart’s home, his family has had to keep their cat out of their rooms because of her propensity for late-night kneading sessions and curling up right over their faces.
Increase in allergies and even risk of developing asthma
Dog and cat allergies are quite common, since they affect 10 to 20 percent of the global population.
If you are a big part of that group, any kind of contact with your pet could cause you to experience symptoms such as coughing and sneezing, a runny, stuffy nose, itchy eyes, or trouble breathing, especially related to asthma. Since pet dander and saliva can cling to fabric just like bedding, having your dog or cat all snuggled up in your sheets can worsen the symptoms.
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