Of all our pets, cats are probably the most aloof and to look at them you’d think that nothing ever phases them; they’re usually in charge of whichever household they’ve decided to grace their presence with, as well as being in charge of whichever lowly humans live there. They drift through life demanding food, sleeping, and entertaining themselves by knocking things over and seeing how many times they can get us to hold a door open for them.
But cats are highly intuitive to their surroundings and are easily unsettled, so often we cat owners resort to playing them music if they seem anxious; it works for us, right? But do cats actually like music, or are they just humouring us in that special way that only cats can? And if they do like music, what kind do they like? Is your long-haired Persian a heavy metal fan? Does your moggy love a bit of jazz? Or are they above that (as they are everything) and prefer to chill to a bit of Classic FM ?
DO CATS LIKE MUSIC?
There have been lots of studies into the benefits of music in human medicine and music has been found to reduce recovery time, duration of hospital stays and the need for pain relief after surgery/scans etc. Music is an important part of our culture and it forms the soundtrack to our lives; we listen to it when we’re getting ready to go out, when we’re trying to get to sleep and when we exercise; we spend time choosing the right music for our weddings, and our funerals, and we sing lullabies to our fractious babies. Listening to calming music has been shown to reduce stress by reducing the levels of adrenaline and cortisol in our bloodstream – the chemicals that spring into action when our brain thinks we’re in danger.
Music in veterinary settings has also been shown to reduce anxiety in dogs, so it makes sense that it should have a beneficial effect on cats too. Rescue shelters often play classical music to their residents in the belief that it will soothe them, so is there science behind this?
We’ve all seen the videos of the cat playing the piano (don’t worry, our cat just spends hours chasing its own shadow too) but do they like the sound of music? Some studies show that ‘in certain contexts cats can behave in ways that suggest they do like music’, which is worded in a way that sums cats up perfectly, but this is relatively new research and just because a cat doesn’t run away from music doesn’t mean it actually likes it. Does listening to Mozart show that our feline friends are little musical maestros (or should that be mice-tros…) who like being lulled to sleep by a Requiem, or were they just going to have a nap anyway and couldn’t care less?
Tests have been carried out on cats to see if listening to music lowers their stress levels and the most significant results came from the type of music they listened to, so let’s have a look at that.
WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO CATS LIKE?
Scientists studying cat behaviour looked at their responses to two different kinds of music – music made specifically for humans, and music made specifically for cats. A 2015 study showed that cats preferred ‘species-appropriate music’, and this could be because the music that humans listen to often has a tempo that’s similar to a human heartbeat, with a familiar vocal/acoustic range that we can easily process. As cats have a different biology to humans, it’s easy to see why they respond to a different kind of music; a cat’s senses are more sensitive than ours – particularly sound and smell, even their whiskers can sense the slightest sensation – so our music is maybe too loud for them, with too much bass.
Music composed specifically for cats has a much better response, for example, Scooter Bere’s Aria which was composed for cats by David Teie; a cellist who’s played with both the National Symphony Orchestra and Metallica, has purring and suckling sounds as well as chirping birds, with a higher frequency than a human vocal range. It has been shown to reduce stress in cats; cats who listened to this kind of music had lower stress levels than cats who listened to ‘human’ classical music, and cats who were in silence.
Music made for cats uses the frequency range that mimics the tempo used when cats communicate, so it’s very soothing for them; it’s not at a high enough frequency to make them more lively so don’t expect your cat to jump up and start cutting some shapes any time soon. Cats have been observed rubbing against speakers, purring and turning their head and ears towards the music.
WHEN MIGHT MUSIC HELP?
If you’ve never played music to your cat before, try it when they’re already relaxed, as introducing something new when they’re already stressed could make it worse, and remember to keep an eye on their body language. If your cat is happy around music, you could play them music whenever you want them to feel calm; maybe during building work or a house party, or if you want to keep your cat calm during fireworks. You might want to play music before a visit to the vet, for example, when your pets get neutered, and as your cat gets older, you might want to play music to keep them calm when you leave them alone.
We love our pets, they’re part of the family, so we’re always on the lookout for ways to make their lives more enjoyable, and for new ways to communicate with them. Once we’ve curated their very own, personal playlist, another thing we can do for our cats is look at cat insurance. We have four different types of policy; from Accident Only to a Lifetime policy, so there’s something for everyone, and every cat.
Look at our website to see which policy would suit you best and get a free, no-strings quote today that will be music to your precious cat’s ears.
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