Dreams about animals

Snakes

Freud read the snake as sexual; Jung read it as transformation and the unconscious. In practice the emotional tone of the dream decides — a frightening snake and a calm one are not the same symbol.

Spiders

The web matters as much as the spider: a situation you feel caught in, or one you are patiently constructing.

Cats

Often read as the independent or feminine aspect of the self. An aggressive cat suggests intuition being ignored.

Dogs

A friendly dog is usually read as loyalty in your life; an aggressive one as loyalty betrayed or a boundary being guarded too hard.

Snakes

Threat that has not shown itself yet — the classic reading, and the one with the widest cultural agreement.

Dogs

Loyalty and its conditions — dreams of dogs usually turn on whether the animal is yours, friendly, or loose.

Cats

Independence, and what it costs. Cats in dreams tend to appear when a relationship is being negotiated rather than settled.

Tiger

Power that cannot be negotiated with — a threat with no social dimension.

Fish

Something below the surface becoming visible — thoughts noticed before they are articulated.

Lion

Authority observed rather than exercised — lions in dreams are usually watched, not fought.

Bear

Strength in reserve, and the question of whether it will be used.

Owl

Watchfulness in conditions where others cannot see — the owl is the observer, not the threat.

Horse

Power that will cooperate but not obey — the horse sits between the wild animal and the tool.

Elephant

Memory and mass — something large that moves slowly and is not going to be pushed.

Rat

Something unwanted that has got inside — rats in dreams are almost always indoors.

Bird

Freedom observed from the ground. Birds in dreams are usually seen rather than interacted with.

Wolf

Threat with a social structure — unlike a tiger, a wolf in a dream is rarely alone.

Butterfly

Change already completed. The butterfly is the only common dream animal that carries its own transformation with it.

Rabbit

Fertility and speed in the same animal, which is why the reading depends on whether it is fleeing.

Crocodile

Patience with teeth — the threat that waits rather than pursues.

Scorpion

A small threat that is entirely defensive — scorpions in dreams sting when approached, not when hunting.

Turtle

Protection you carry, and the slowness that comes with it.

Lizard

Something that watches and darts away — lizard dreams are about being noticed by something indifferent.

Worms

Something working underneath, out of sight — worms belong to the ground rather than to the body in most reports.

Dolphins

Intelligence that is friendly but not domesticated — one of the few animal dreams reported as reliably pleasant.

Mouse

Something small that has got in — the domestic version of the rat dream, with less disgust attached.

Bee

Industry with a sting attached — bee dreams carry both productivity and threat in one figure.

Shark

Threat that is already in the water with you — the shark dream is about what is under the surface, not what is visible.

Duck

Calm on the surface with effort underneath — the metaphor is old enough to shape the dream.

Cow

Provision that is patient and slow — cattle dreams belong to sustenance rather than to wealth, despite the tradition.

Panther

Power that moves without announcing itself — the melanistic version of the big-cat dream.

Pigs

Appetite without shame — pig dreams carry the culture's attitude to consumption more than the animal.

Octopus

Something with more reach than you can track — the dream of being handled from several directions at once.

Peacock

Display that costs something — the tail is beautiful and impractical at once.

Bat

Something that navigates conditions you cannot — bats appear where seeing is not possible.

Whale

Something vast moving beneath you — whale dreams are about scale under the surface.

Crab

Sideways movement and a hard exterior — crab dreams concern approach that is not direct.

Fox

Intelligence applied sideways — the fox solves what it cannot force.

Crow

Watchfulness with a memory attached — crows in dreams are noticed noticing you.

Hummingbird

Precision at high speed — the hummingbird is the only bird that can hold still in the air.

Sheep

Following, and whether you are doing it — sheep dreams carry the metaphor before the animal.

Monkey

Cleverness without restraint — monkey dreams carry mischief rather than menace.

Leopard

Threat that is already close — leopards are the ambush predator of the dream dictionary.

Buffalo

Mass that moves as one — buffalo dreams are about being in or before a herd.

Goat

Sure-footedness on ground that should not hold — goat dreams concern managing where others would not.

Squirrel

Storing for later — squirrel dreams are about provision rather than about the animal.

Frog

Transformation in stages — the frog is the visible version of metamorphosis.

Pigeon

The bird that has adapted to us — pigeon dreams concern the ordinary rather than the wild.

Deer

Alertness that reads a situation before entering it — the deer notices you first.

Parrot

Repetition without understanding — parrot dreams concern words used rather than meant.

Caterpillar

Change that has not started visibly — the caterpillar is the butterfly dream before anything happens.

Cobra

A snake that raises itself to be seen before striking — the warning is part of the animal.

Other categories

Actions and situations People Places Objects Nature and elements The body

148 subjects · 791,230 searches a month

Every animals dream people ask about

Ordered by how often each is actually searched. We publish the demand figure because it answers a question no dream dictionary does: is your dream unusual, or is it one of the most common ones there is.

#	Dream about	Searches / month	Share of category
1	Tiger	47,700	6%
2	Dog	44,100	5.6%
3	Lion	42,600	5.4%
4	Cat	31,900	4%
5	Fish	28,300	3.6%
6	Elephant	24,300	3.1%
7	Bear	24,160	3.1%
8	Owl	21,600	2.7%
9	Rat	21,300	2.7%
10	Dog bite	19,800	2.5%
11	Crocodile	16,200	2%
12	Rabbit	13,600	1.7%
13	Horse	13,200	1.7%
14	Wolf	13,100	1.7%
15	Bird	12,700	1.6%
16	Butterfly	12,700	1.6%
17	Ants	12,300	1.6%
18	Black dog	11,600	1.5%
19	Maggots	10,100	1.3%
20	Cat in	9,900	1.3%
21	Kitten	9,790	1.2%
22	Frog	9,680	1.2%
23	Alligator	9,680	1.2%
24	Lizard	8,700	1.1%
25	Crab	8,640	1.1%
26	Dolphins	8,400	1.1%
27	Turtle	8,200	1%
28	Bees	8,200	1%
29	White cat	8,100	1%
30	Worms	7,600	1%
31	Black cat	7,280	0.9%
32	Scorpion	7,200	0.9%
33	Shark	7,100	0.9%
34	Lions	6,600	0.8%
35	Dog bite in	6,600	0.8%
36	Frogs	6,600	0.8%
37	Cockroaches	6,600	0.8%
38	Bee	6,500	0.8%
39	White horse	6,480	0.8%
40	Mouse	6,390	0.8%
41	Puppy	6,240	0.8%
42	Octopus	5,840	0.7%
43	Whale	5,600	0.7%
44	Animals	5,540	0.7%
45	Cattle	5,500	0.7%
46	Cow	5,500	0.7%
47	Cockroach	5,400	0.7%
48	Duck	5,400	0.7%
49	Kittens	5,400	0.7%
50	Pigs	5,000	0.6%
51	Bat	4,800	0.6%
52	Dead fish	4,800	0.6%
53	Bear attack	4,800	0.6%
54	Horses	4,400	0.6%
55	Black bear	4,200	0.5%
56	White tiger	4,000	0.5%
57	Lice	3,800	0.5%
58	Catching fish	3,600	0.5%
59	Gorilla	3,200	0.4%
60	Dead mother	3,200	0.4%
61	White dog	3,200	0.4%
62	Black dogs	2,900	0.4%
63	Catch fish	2,900	0.4%
64	Eating fish	2,780	0.4%
65	Deer	2,640	0.3%
66	Bathroom	2,600	0.3%
67	Dog attack	2,480	0.3%
68	Dinosaurs	2,400	0.3%
69	Monkey	2,400	0.3%
70	Turtles	2,400	0.3%
71	Goat	2,000	0.3%
72	Hummingbird	2,000	0.3%
73	Centipede	2,000	0.3%
74	Whales	2,000	0.3%
75	Bats	2,000	0.3%
76	Killer whale	2,000	0.3%
77	Scorpion in	1,900	0.2%
78	Bathing in	1,900	0.2%
79	Dead cat	1,770	0.2%
80	Birds	1,600	0.2%
81	Bears attacking	1,600	0.2%
82	Moth	1,600	0.2%
83	Dead fish in	1,600	0.2%
84	Bird in	1,600	0.2%
85	Big spider in	1,600	0.2%
86	Big spider	1,600	0.2%
87	Dragon	1,470	0.2%
88	Puppies	1,470	0.2%
89	Dead dog	1,470	0.2%
90	Ladybug	1,440	0.2%
91	Chicken	1,440	0.2%
92	Black bears	1,300	0.2%
93	Riding a horse	1,300	0.2%
94	Mother died	1,300	0.2%
95	Chased by a dog	1,300	0.2%
96	Fishing in a	1,300	0.2%
97	Mountain lion	1,180	0.1%
98	Dead bird	1,180	0.1%
99	Killer whales	1,000	0.1%
100	Cats attacking you	1,000	0.1%
101	Cat attacking me	1,000	0.1%
102	Centipede in	1,000	0.1%
103	Dog bite hand	1,000	0.1%
104	Kitten in	1,000	0.1%
105	Escaping from lion in	1,000	0.1%
106	Polar bears	880	0.1%
107	Lioness chasing me	880	0.1%
108	Catching fish with hands	880	0.1%
109	Dog dying	880	0.1%
110	Dog attacking me	880	0.1%
111	Dokkaebi bato	880	0.1%
112	Snails	880	0.1%
113	Black horse	880	0.1%
114	Lion chasing me	880	0.1%
115	Polar bear	880	0.1%
116	Snail	880	0.1%
117	Bath	880	0.1%
118	Eating fish in	880	0.1%
119	Dog poop	880	0.1%
120	Black cats	880	0.1%
121	Lions attacking	720	0.1%
122	Rio bath and body works	720	0.1%
123	Fried chicken	720	0.1%
124	Moths	720	0.1%
125	Tiger attack	720	0.1%
126	Frying chicken	720	0.1%
127	Lion attack	720	0.1%
128	Killing cockroach in	720	0.1%
129	Bear in	720	0.1%
130	White owl	590	0.1%
131	Home and mother	590	0.1%
132	Lion chasing you	590	0.1%
133	Dead cats	590	0.1%
134	Dead rats	590	0.1%
135	White mouse	590	0.1%
136	Spider webs	590	0.1%
137	Dog biting me	590	0.1%
138	Mouses	590	0.1%
139	Dog chasing me	590	0.1%
140	Spider bite	590	0.1%
141	Caterpillar	590	0.1%
142	Giant spider	590	0.1%
143	Pigeon	590	0.1%
144	Catching a big fish	590	0.1%
145	Cat bite in	590	0.1%
146	Piglet in	590	0.1%
147	Dead birds	590	0.1%
148	Cat bite	590	0.1%

The most-asked animals dream is Tiger at 47,700 searches a month — 6% of everything in this category. Just 17 of the 148 subjects account for half the demand, which is the usual shape: a handful of dreams everybody has, and a long tail almost nobody asks about.

49 with full pages · 34 listed here · 1,326,180 searches a month in this category

Everything else people dream about in this category

These are searched too rarely to justify a page each, and a thin page would serve nobody. The figure is how often the subject is looked up per month — the one thing about it that is actually countable.

Fishing 1,510 Bull 860 Dove 820 Fried chicken 760 Lions attacking 720 Frying chicken 720 Refrigerator 640 Piglet 930 Raven 570 Chicken 560 Guinea pigs 520 Rats mice 490 Catfish 490 Jellyfish 490 Mice rats 480 Celebration 480 Humming bird 480 Hawk 470 Lions tigers 450 Camel 440 Fever bird 400 See elephant 390 Brown horse 370 Multiple dogs 320 Vacation 290 Cowboy christmas 260 Earthworms 260 Raw chicken 260 Donkey 260 Birds attacking 210 Pleasant 210 Escaping from tiger 210 Animals having sex 210 Lots cats 200