Amanda Schupak
When Shelby Harris, a sleep psychologist in New York City, starts working with patients who are having trouble sleeping, she always asks if they have pets. “The first thing they say to me is: ‘I have a dog. You’re going to tell me not to sleep with the dog’,” she says.
That’s not necessarily the case, Harris says. Some people experience great joy from sleeping with their pets, and not everyone suffers from sleep disruptions. But if the pet is the source of the problem, Harris says, that’s good for everyone to know.
In an online survey of just over 1000 Australian adults published in 2024, nearly half said that they slept in the same bed as their pet. If you’re in the same boat, but are not sure whether you ought to be, here are some things to consider.
Pets can sometimes transmit disease
Pets can expose us to a variety of bugs and germs, like ticks, fleas, parasites and bacteria, says Dr Josh Daniels, a veterinarian and microbiologist at Colorado State University’s veterinary school. Having them in the bed only increases your exposure, he says. And in some cases, they can make us sick.
In 1991, for instance, an 81-year-old woman was hospitalised in Finland with a fever and signs of a bacterial skin infection in her leg. Scientists reported that she had an ulcer between her toes, and was infected with a type of bacteria commonly found in the mouths of dogs and cats. She regularly slept with her cat, who had a habit of licking her feet and toes. Another case, published in 2000, described a 69-year-old man who had slept with his dog before and after hip surgeries and developed an infection around the surgical site. The bacterium was a type found in the mouths of cats and dogs and transmitted through bites and scratches. There have also been reports of dog owners who caught plague, which can be transmitted by fleas, after sleeping with their pets.
Such cases are rare, however. And unless you’re susceptible to infection or have a weakened immune system, the risk of actually getting sick from sleeping with a pet is generally low, says Bruno Chomel, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis, Weill School of Veterinary Medicine.
Ticks and fleas are the most common bugs people are exposed to when sharing a bed with a pet, Daniels says, so be sure to use flea and tick prevention methods as recommended by a veterinarian. Ticks can transmit Lyme disease and other serious illnesses.
Routine deworming will also kill common and potentially dangerous intestinal parasites, such as roundworm.
If your pet recently came from a shelter, or is a puppy or kitten, watch out for skin problems like ringworm, which spreads easily through touch, says Daniels (who sleeps with his dog).
When deciding whether to sleep with a pet, Chomel says, it comes down to your appetite for the risk of getting sick – it’s small, he says, but real.
Your sleep may suffer (though you may not notice)
There isn’t much research on how sharing a bed with a pet affects sleep, says Brittany Lancaster, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Mississippi State University. But a few limited studies suggest that sleeping with a pet can make sleep worse, she says.
In a study published in 2017, for instance, 40 dog owners (mostly women) wore activity monitors while sleeping for seven nights. The researchers found that when the dog was on the bed, the participants slept less efficiently than when the dog was in the room but not on the bed.
Some evidence suggests that people may not know they’re being disturbed. In a 2020 study of 12 women who slept with their dogs, researchers saw that the dogs disrupted their owners’ sleep, but the participants rarely reported those disruptions afterward. Scientists have also found that some people perceive their pets as being beneficial to their sleep.
Dr Douglas Wallace, a sleep physician and clinical neurology professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has noticed this in his own research and in his clinic.
He theorised that the emotional support of sleeping with a pet might somehow outweigh any negative effects the pet has on sleep quality.
Pets offer wellness benefits that may improve sleep, Wallace says. Owners who walk their dogs every morning get regular exercise and may have to wake up at the same time every day, both of which promote good sleep.
If you think sharing a bed with a pet is interfering with your sleep, Harris recommends taking the animal out of bed for a few nights and seeing if you notice a difference. If you don’t, “I’m fine with it being there,” she says.
Lancaster, on the other hand, prefers a more conservative approach: “I do not sleep with my cats, if that tells you anything,” she says.
The New York Times
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