For most owners, dogs and cats are much more than just pets. The four-legged friend is often an important part of the family and accordingly enjoys many rights. In some cases, this also means that dogs and cats are allowed to sleep with them. You can find out below whether this makes sense or whether your four-legged friend should rather have their own place to sleep.
Key facts at a glance
- Many owners benefit from the calming effect that sleeping with a dog and cat can have.
- Hygienic reasons can speak against letting dogs and cats into bed with you.
- Regular bed linen changes and diligent parasite avoidance are essential to co-sleeping with a pet.
- As a general rule, children should not sleep in the same bed with a dog or cat.
Sleeping with your dog and cat in one bed: these are the advantages
Even if critics don’t want to hear it, sleeping with a dog or cat in the same bed has a number of advantages. In fact, the presence of the four-legged friend has a very calming effect on many people and thus also promotes sleep.
In addition, the nocturnal presence of the pet increases the general well-being and can even have a positive effect on health. For example, the reduction in stress associated with bed sharing can counteract heart disease.
Experience has shown that people who live alone or who are out and about all day benefit particularly from sharing their bed with a dog or cat.
The disadvantages
Despite the advantages mentioned, there are of course some disadvantages to letting a dog or cat into bed with you. After all, despite all the love, the four-legged friends are still animals. The topic of hygiene should therefore always be included in your own considerations.
In addition to animal hair, dogs and cats can also spread pathogens and parasites, such as fleas or mites, in the bed and sometimes even infect their owners.
Anyone who decides to sleep together with their pet should therefore not only change their bed regularly, but also attach great importance to upcoming check-ups and conscientious parasite prophylaxis.
It is essential that you have your four-legged friend dewormed regularly and, if necessary, use suitable means to prevent infestation with skin parasites. If your dog or cat still suffers from parasites, your four-legged friend should not go back to bed until the parasite infestation has been completely eliminated.
Undesirable territorial behavior of dogs
Another point that under certain circumstances can speak against a pet in your own bed is undesirable territorial behavior, which can occasionally occur in dogs.
Because sleeping together strengthens the bond between you and your four-legged friend. Under certain circumstances, however, it can also lead to your dog seeing the bed as his territory in the future and, for example, not accepting a possible new life partner in it or tending to be aggressive towards strangers due to his protective instinct.
This does not necessarily have to be the case and can be remedied in case of doubt. As a dog owner, you should at least keep this point in mind if you want to let your dog into bed with you.
Dog and cat in the cot
While it is basically a question of personal taste for adults, children’s beds for dogs and cats should generally be taboo. Because apart from the dangers emanating from pathogens and parasites, there is always a certain risk of unwanted injuries.
This may be different for older children, since they are usually more careful when dealing with a pet. But at least small children should not be with dogs or cats unsupervised and, of course, should not sleep with them in the same bed.
A place to sleep in the same room as a middle ground
If you don’t want your pet in your bed but still want to feel their closeness while they sleep, having their own dog or cat bed in the same room is a good middle ground.
In this case, however, it is important that you teach your four-legged friend consistently from the start that your bed is taboo for him and that he must confine himself to his own sleeping place.
Allow your dog and cat to sleep with you – our conclusion
As you can see, there are both pros and cons. Whether you should let your dog or cat into bed with you depends primarily on your personal likes and dislikes. As long as both you and your four-legged friend are healthy and you pay attention to good hygiene, there is absolutely nothing to be said against it.