This is the worst question your partner can ask you if you have a cat

It has happened. I can hardly express this sensibly, because it is painful and funny at the same time. But no, mainly painful.

Here's the thing. My friend and I have two cats, Gin and Tonic. I find them cute and incredibly sweet, although I am more of a dog person I admit. But anyway. They are very cozy, our two cats. A bit too much, sometimes. Because they want to sleep on the bed. All night. Every night. And that means: a purring kitten between your feet making it impossible to move because you also find it too sad to kick that little creature off the bed. So I don't do that, and more often than not I wake up with a hernia at the same moment Gin stretches out gracefully and well-rested.

But now it has happened, while we were in bed about to sleep. My friend and I, we were lying in bed. Yes really, it has come to that. Because the absolute worst question of all questions has been asked. I was shocked. And I had to laugh.

“Honey, scoot over. Then Tonic can lie here between us.” He meant it.

When your spot in bed is given away by your partner without any doubt to the house cat, then you know that there is something not right.

We are not the only ones, you know, who dive into bed with an extensive company. Research shows that at least 75 percent of people sometimes sleep with their dog or cat in bed. Why? It has been proven that people sleep better when they have their dog or cat lying next to them, because they feel safer and thus sleep deeper. All well and good. But besides the fact that I don't really find it hygienic and see cat hairs everywhere in bed and have to gag about that a bit daily, I mainly find it unacceptable that I have to scoot over. In my own bed. That is closer to my friend than I am. All for my lazy cat, who sleeps an average of sixteen hours a day. Because that's what cats do. Of course, it could be worse, because 23 percent of pets are allowed to sleep right next to their owner, they don't even have to curl up carefully at the foot of the bed. Yes, another 11 percent let their pet use a pillow and certainly 14 percent let the dog or cat lie under the covers as well. I'm not making this up, these are facts. Please don't let my friend read this, please.

And did I really scoot over to the left so my cat could sleep peacefully? I'll leave that in the middle. But I dare not write it down.

FACTS

• 43% of people let their pet sleep in bed every night.
• At least a quarter of households in the Netherlands has a cat.
• The most popular name for a cat in the Netherlands is Luna, followed by Simba and Tiger.