Cats spend a good portion of their day asleep, so it's no wonder they have a lot of dreams and, occasionally, nightmares.

How do I know if my cat is having a nightmare?

Researchers suspect cats dream about their experiences throughout the day, and that includes their interactions with you. If they have a bad experience, your cat could very well have a nightmare about the negative events of the day and react with meowing, hissing, or sporadic movements while sleeping.

What causes cat nightmares?

Those daily interactions are likely to be part of her dreams. Like people, cats can probably have nightmares sometimes, too. Animals process stress and trauma through dreams and can show signs of nightmares following stressful events.