Cats Protection has released its top 10 pictures of conked-out kitties adopting entertaining sleep positions to mark National Sleep Awareness Week (5 to 11 March).

Few people realise that cats can sleep for 16 hours a day, about twice as much as humans, so the charity ran the online contest to try to raise awareness of the importance of sleep and educate cat owners on sleep behaviour.

The funniest flaked-out felines were selected to appear on Cats Protection’s website and in first place was a small ginger kitten asleep in a slipper.

“Cats are known to sleep almost anywhere and need plenty of sleep to allow their energy reserves to be replenished,” said Maggie Roberts, Cats Protection’s Director of Veterinary Services. “This allows them to hunt whenever they detect prey and not wait until they are hungry. However, they are light sleepers and tend to wake at the slightest touch or sound – hence the expression cat nap. This is an important survival mechanism as the ability to wake and become alert quickly helps them escape daytime predators.”

Sleep is vital for the wellbeing of both humans and cats so the charity recommends the following tips for cat owners:

• Give cats a variety of places to sleep as they like to rotate their sleeping area, traditionally as a means of parasite control
• Ensure they have access to somewhere elevated where they can feel safe
• Provide a scratching post near their sleeping area as they often scratch to maintain their claws when they wake up

The top 10 photos of kipping kitties can be viewed below!

You can also check out the coverage by The Telegraph the Huffington Post and Yahoo News

Cats Protection is the UK’s leading cat welfare charity and has around 6,000 cats and kittens awaiting new homes at any one time.

For details of your local branch of Cats Protection please call the helpline on 03000 12 12 12