为什么猫咪总是在睡觉？

Cat person? How many pictures of your cat sleeping have you got on your phone? A lot, right? They are so cute when they sleep…so cute. 

撸猫达人？你的手机上有多少张猫咪睡觉的照片？很多吧？他们睡觉时真可爱……真可爱呀。 

But then they are always asleep. Okay, not always, but a lot of the time. Why is that?

但是他们总是在睡觉。好吧，并非总是在睡觉，但是很大一部分时间都在睡觉。这是为什么呢？

The truth is that cats sleep an average of 15 hours per day. 

事实是，猫每天平均睡15个小时。 

Some of them stretch that toward 20 hours, especially older cats and kittens. 

有一些甚至能睡20个小时左右，尤其是年龄较大的猫和小猫。

Cats are natural predators. Their prey is quick and elusive. Sneaking up and pouncing—repeatedly—is undoubtedly exhausting. 

猫科动物是天生的捕食性动物。 他们的猎物敏捷而难以捉摸。 因为他们需要经常潜伏和突袭猎物，这样反复无常，无疑会消耗大量体力。

Cats in the wild work hard in order to meet their dietary needs, and expending that kind of physical effort requires a lot of recharging.

为了满足饮食需要，野外的猫会非常的努力捕猎，而消耗掉的体力需要大量的睡眠补充回来。

About three-fourths of their sleep is a shallow, almost-waking rest called slow-wave sleep. 

它们大约四分之三的睡眠时间为浅睡眠，几乎是清醒的休息状态，称为慢波睡眠。

Cats doze in a kind of ready position, their senses of smell and hearing in the “on” mode. Ears occasionally twitch. Peaceful but poised, they are ready to react instantly.

猫在“蓄势待发”的姿势下打盹，它们的嗅觉和听觉都处于“活跃”模式。耳朵偶尔抽搐。他们平静而镇定，随时准备做出反应。

The other one-fourth of the time, cats sleeping deeply. when their paws tremble, it is because they probably are dreaming. 

另外四分之一的时间，猫睡得很死。如果睡觉时爪子有抖动，那是因为他们可能在做梦。 

So what about my domestic, never-leaves-the-house cat? Why is she always sleeping? 

那么我的家猫呢，永不离开家的猫呢？她为什么总是睡觉？

In a word: heredity. As a species, cats—whether they sleep on the street or cuddle on a sofa—are all hardwired to the same internal clock, That, and house cats also sleep when they are bored. 

一句话：遗传。 作为同一个猫科物种（无论是在街上睡觉还是在沙发上蜷缩着的）体内生物钟都是一样的。 还有，家猫无聊时也会睡觉。