I've always owned cats, so "letting" them do something is kind of a foreign concept. Cats tend to do whatever they want.
I like sharing my bed with my cats. They purr and make effective bedwarmers without electricity, and I would gladly have them sleep with me every night—especially in the wintertime.
So, of course, all my cats only slept on the bed with me when they felt like it.
But if you own an Irish Wolfhound or English Mastiff, the pets on the bed question has very different concerns to consider.
As the official "largest" dog breeds, Irish Wolfhounds—recognized as the tallest breed—stand almost 3 feet tall at the shoulder and English Mastiffs—recognized as the heaviest—can weigh 230 lbs (104 kg) without an ounce of excess fat. With either of these dogs, you don't share your bed with them—they share their bed with you.
If your preferred pets have feathers, fins, scales, exoskeletons, or can fit in the palm of your hand, bed-sharing is either impossible or extremely ill-advised.
It doesn't matter how cute they are.
So, allowing pets to sleep on your bed—or your children's beds—is a topic of much reasonable debate.
Reddit user RambunctiousFungus asked:
"Are you 'for' or 'against' letting animals sleep in the bed and why?"
Yay
"I have trouble falling asleep if my cat isn't in his usual spot on my legs. He considers this part of his job and stays there until he knows I'm asleep, then goes to his cat tree to keep watch."
"Sometimes, if I wake up in the night, he'll come back over and cuddle me back to sleep."
"When he wants to disrupt my sleep he does so with intention, not by accident."
"7:30 AM is when Civilized People have breakfast. If I'm not awake at that time he starts gently touching any exposed skin he can find with a single extended claw."
~ Holdfastwolf
Neigh
"Depends on the animal."
"My cat is welcome to sleep where he chooses, but I wouldn’t share with a horse."
~ sunbearimon
Yay
"I’d let my dog borrow the car if he had a license."
~ Embarrassed-Field236
"I'd let my dog borrow the car even without a license."
~ Ashne405
Nay
"I don’t let my pets sleep in bed with me."
"But that’s only because I currently only have fish as pets, and for some reason I don’t think they’d have a good night outside of their tank."
~ sunshine_is_hot
"Gotta cradle the aquarium. Good bonding time."
"Or you sleep inside the tank."
~ Clusterpuff
"'Sleeping with the fishes' suddenly became wholesome."
~ bumjiggy
Yay
"I was against it until my childhood dog was nearing the end and all I wanted was for her to cuddle with me as much as possible, but she wouldn’t stay on the bed after a lifetime of being told it was off limits."
"Now I just feel like we have so little time with them and I want them as close as possible, for as long as possible."
~ boydbunny03
Nay
"I am against it; my wife is for it, so we have pets in the bed."
"We have a large bed, so it is fine, and we wash the sheets every 3 days."
"Sexy time is weird because they get kicked off the bed and then watch us like a live-action National Geographic."
~ agentaltf4
Yay
"I want them in bed with me."
"Most of time they are, but I still get offended on rare occasions they sleep elsewhere."
"I may or may not keep treat bags right next to the bed for this reason."
~ Desperate-Ad7967
"I have six resident cats and if none of them join me in bed, I definitely consider them derelict in their duties."
~ Zoethor2
Nay
"During sex with my partner, my dog would get offended and huff off to a corner, very pointedly flop down facing away from us in disgust."
"And let out the occasional loud sigh. She was super dramatic about it."
"It was the only time she would ever actually use the dog bed on the floor of our room."
~ i-want-bananas
Yay
"My cats sleep wherever the hell they want."
"They spend more time on my bed than I do."
~ Lonecoon
"I'm jealous of how much time my cats get in my bed."
~ Worldly_Base9920
Nay
"I'm against anything sleeping in the same bed with me."
"I literally cannot fall asleep cause I move around way too much and would be hyper-aware of them the entire time and not be able to fully sleep."
"Plus with an animal, I'd be so afraid of accidentally hurting them as well."
"100% OK with them being in bed if I'm not trying to sleep, though. Snuggles are the best."
~ LucarnAnderson
Yay
"I don't let my dog sleep in my bed: my dog lets me sleep in his bed."
~ Bizarre_Protuberance
"My dog has his own pillow on my (our?) bed."
"Like, he gets upset if I don’t get it just right for him."
~ Affectionate_Elk_272
Nay
"I’m a light sleeper. I’m hyper aware when I’m sleeping next to my partner all the time."
"And that’s a human. So, animals would be worse."
~ Alycery
Depends
"My tiny cat? Sure."
"My brother's 120 pound German Shepherd? No."
"I love Copper, (the German Shepherd) but he is huge and produces a LOT of smelly dog oil that gets into anything he lays on too long. He has designated dog beds for that reason."
"Cats are small, and don't have the same oily coat many dogs do."
~ LighthouseonSaturn
Nay
"Don't get me wrong I love my dog and I give him hugs and cuddles daily... But he doesn't bathe everyday, nor clean his a** unless I do it for him."
"A dog is gonna dog, and everytime we walk him ( my family walks it 5 times a day) he goes for the muddiest patch it can find."
"I may be more sensitive, but how can you stand getting your bed dirty? Or the idea of my dog innocently brushing his a**hole against my pillow? Where I rest my face for 8 hours a day."
~ Skydge
Depends
"The cats can do as they please."
"I'm a stomach sleeper, and my chonky girl Ladybug likes to snuggle up under the blankets and curl up on my lower back. I actually sleep better when she's there."
"The dog, however, makes everything smell like her stank-a** Frito feet two days after she gets a bath. I do not want my bed to smell like dog feet."
~ my_ghost_is_a_dog
Where do you stand on³ the pets sharing the bed debate?
