Your feline or canine friend has a tendency to yawn a lot, and you may be wondering at times that they may walk over to their beds and take a snooze which they often do during the daytime. However, even though your dog or cat yawns a lot, it has nothing to do with being tired. And yes, even when they yawn, you will too because yawns can be quite contagious. Aside from that, when your dog or cat yawns, there are several reasons behind that which have nothing to do with them being sleepy. Let’s go over those reasons now.
A Yawn Gives An Oxygen Boost To The Brain And Body
If your dog or cat is bored or sluggish and wants to gain energy to run around or do something more stimulating, they will yawn to get more oxygen to the blood and brain. Therefore, they will become more alert and they will do what they need to do. If they are hungry but are too comfortable on the sofa which makes them not want to leave, they will yawn so they get the energy to get up and go to their food bowl to eat or their water bowl to drink.
Dogs And Cats Can Be Empathetic
When dogs and cats yawn, it may be them showing that they are empathetic. That is why when you yawn, your dog or cat will also yawn so they are telling you that they understand how you feel. Yawning in that case shows their humans that they have a strong connection to them. And as mentioned before, when your pet yawns, you will too which also is a confirmation to them that you feel that same connection to them that they feel towards you.
Yawning Helps Your Dog Or Cat Stay Calm
What do you do when you are nervous? Do you bite your nails, twirl your hair, shake your leg when sitting down? Cats and dogs do the same through yawning. Those actions help your canine or feline friend stay calm if they are nervous. Therefore if your pet seems unusually nervous in any situation, expect them to yawn to help them stay calm.
Yawning Helps To Resolve Conflicts With Other Animals
If you have several dogs or several cats and they are fighting with each other, and one of them yawns, that is their way of telling the others they fight with that they want a resolution. Therefore, yawning signals them to find peace. Therefore, if your dog is getting into a barking conversation with the dog down the street and your dog yawns, then that is your dog telling the other dog that they want to end the conflict and want a peaceful resolution.
Cats do the same thing, however, cats usually use their entire bodies when it comes to communication. Therefore, when your cat is yawning and the whiskers are either at the side or forward, then it means they are just yawning for the same reasons. However, if your cat is yawning and the whiskers are backwards, then your cat is not happy at all.
Internal Struggles
If you are scolding your dog or cat because they are heading into an area of your home where they are not allowed to go, but they really want to go there, they will yawn. They really want to go to the place where you are telling them not to go but that goes against what they want which is creating an internal struggle or conflict. Therefore, they will yawn to show they are having an internal conflict. Cats don’t care about pleasing their owners the way dogs do, but they don’t like being scolded which is why in some cases they will obey. But for dogs, it is either going after what they want or making their owners mad, that is a hard decision to make.
Therefore, you see that when your dog or cat yawns, it has nothing to do with them being ready to head to bed. When they yawn, there are other reasons behind that.
