You can tell when the weather starts to get cooler, the bed gets more crowded. All summer long, I may have had a maximum of 2 extra guests sharing the sheets. With the recent, very early, cold snap in the middle Atlantic states, I find that when I wake up, I can barely move! The most recent head counts have been 6 to 8 extra guests. This makes for some interesting sleep patterns.
Usually, I can fall asleep before most of the cats decide it’s time to turn in. It’s when I wake up, and have to GET UP, that I run into difficulty. The blankets are typically pinned on either side of me by at least one cat, and the entire bottom 1/4 to 1/3 of the bed is covered by an overlapping layer of fur. I turn on the light, and several heads with blinking eyes are raised questioningly. For years, my cats have slept with me. Until her death, Paggie curled up at the bottom of the bed every night. Most of the cats who were older when rescued, prefer to sleep at the bottom also. Sometimes they will lean up against my legs, but for the most part they stay at the bottom. Our three bottle-babies (Shotzi, Hermione, and Cupcake) are very different. They love to stretch out along side and cuddle as close as possible. That is why I like to have the light on to just get out of bed. I don’t want to take a chance of rolling onto one of them. Plus, it sometimes helps to clear the bottom of the bed so I can finally stretch out my legs.
On those unfortunate nights when I am having problems dropping off, or staying asleep, it really becomes annoying, and I have to try and clear the bed off so I can find a more comfortable position, stretch my legs, etc. I just went through this a few nights ago. As I was beginning to drop off again, I could feel the cats carefully sneaking back into the bed, and had to smile at their persistence. Oh well, at least it’s warm at the bottom of the kitty pile!