Why Sleep Might Be the Most Overlooked Factor in Canine Health
Inside Veterinary Medicine’s Quiet Blind Spot, and What Happens When We Start Paying Attention
Sleep is where healing happens.
Not in the consult room.
Not on the treatment table.
Not even during recovery protocols or rehab plans.
It happens in the quiet hours, when the body repairs tissue, the brain processes stress, and resilience is rebuilt for whatever comes next.
And yet, in veterinary medicine, sleep is rarely discussed with the same seriousness as nutrition, mobility, or medication.
That gap is exactly where Dr Lauren Davis found her calling.
A qualified veterinarian with a career that has taken several unexpected turns, Lauren now works as a dog sleep specialist, a title that still raises eyebrows, even within the profession. We had the chance to speak with her, uncovering the science and practicalities of dog sleep. As she explains, once you understand the role sleep plays in physical health, behaviour, and emotional regulation, it becomes impossible to ignore.
A career that didn’t follow the standard path
Lauren’s route into sleep medicine wasn’t planned. Like many vets, she moved through different roles early in her career, mixed practice, small animal work, technical roles, writing and consultancy, searching for the place where her skills felt most aligned.
Eventually, she stepped away from the veterinary world entirely, taking a role in human healthcare, working with clinical mattress systems for humans.
It was there that something clicked.
In human medicine, sleep surfaces aren’t lifestyle accessories. They’re treated as medical devices. Different patients require different solutions depending on acuity, mobility, chronic pain, or end-of-life care. The level of scrutiny, testing, and clinical reasoning around sleep was stark and completely absent from Lauren’s experience in veterinary practice.
That contrast stayed with her. When she returned to the profession, she brought that perspective back with her and began asking uncomfortable questions about what the veterinary world had quietly normalised.
What vets are, and aren’t, taught about sleep
Despite its importance, animal sleep gets little structured attention in veterinary training. Most vets know sleep matters, but the neurobiology, stages, and long-term effects of disruption are rarely explored. The result: sleep is treated as background noise rather than a core pillar of health. Yet dogs, like humans, rely on deep and REM sleep to repair tissue, regulate emotions, process stress, and consolidate memory. Repeated interruptions show up as changes in pain sensitivity, behaviour, and overall resilience.
What poor sleep looks like in dogs
Sleep deprivation in dogs is often subtle: increased reactivity, lower tolerance, slower recovery, or heightened sensitivity to stress. Frequent disturbances prevent them from reaching restorative stages, even if they appear to be resting. Over time, the body “keeps score.”
Why routine matters
Dogs are polyphasic sleepers, needing multiple sleep periods throughout the day, around 12 hours total for a healthy adult. Modern life can fragment rest, with busy households, daycare, or constant stimulation interfering. Well-meaning owners may unintentionally disrupt sleep through interaction, exercise, or enrichment, preventing dogs from accessing deep rest.
Psychological safety: the missing ingredient
Sleep isn’t just physical; it’s psychological. Dogs need familiar, predictable, and stable environments to fully relax. Even small factors, shifting beds, exposed sleeping spots, or uncomfortable surfaces, can prevent rest. This is especially important for older dogs or those with anxiety, joint disease, or cognitive decline.
The problem with “orthopaedic” beds
Lauren points out a major frustration: many beds focus on foam or support layers while overlooking what sits between the dog and the bed. Covers, unstable surfaces, and poor pressure distribution can negate any benefit. This gap inspired her VetRelieve range, designed with veterinary insight to prioritise stability, pressure relief, and ease of movement for dogs with mobility challenges.
Sleep inside the clinic
Rest in veterinary hospitals matters, too. Hospitalised animals face noise, movement, and unfamiliar smells, but small adjustments, better bedding, reduced visual stimuli, and comfort-focused spaces improve coping, recovery, and reduce stress. In this context, sleep is a welfare issue.
Entrepreneurship, innovation, and making space to think
Lauren’s work also speaks to a broader challenge within the profession: time.
Veterinary teams are often so deep in day-to-day demands that reflection and innovation fall by the wayside. Yet meaningful change, whether clinical or operational, rarely happens without stepping back.
She highlights the value of professional networks, industry events, and intentional space for forward thinking. Innovation doesn’t come from working harder; it comes from looking wider.
Rethinking recommendations, without discomfort around “selling”
Lauren also challenges the discomfort many vets feel around product recommendations.
Owners are already buying products, often guided by marketing rather than evidence. When vets confidently recommend solutions they believe in, supported by clinical reasoning, it strengthens trust rather than undermines it.
Affiliate and referral models, when handled transparently and ethically, can support both client outcomes and practice sustainability, provided recommendations remain grounded in genuine conviction and regular review.
A quiet shift that matters
Sleep won’t grab headlines the way new drugs or technologies do.
But its impact is foundational.
As awareness grows, conversations around animal sleep are beginning to surface in consult rooms, nurse clinics, and practice discussions. What was once overlooked is slowly becoming recognised as a basic component of quality care.
Lauren’s work sits at that intersection: between medicine and environment, science and practicality, welfare and lived experience.
And the message is simple. Better sleep doesn’t require radical change, just intentional attention.
About VetRelieve
Founded by Dr Lauren Davis, VetRelieve combines veterinary expertise with clinical sleep-surface design to support better rest for dogs, both at home and within veterinary practices.
👉 Learn more about VetRelieve and their veterinary and home bedding solutions via the link below.