Do Cats like Music
People love music, but do our cats feel the same way?
Do Cats like Music We all love when our pets are happy, and we’ve all seen those cute YouTube videos of our favorite cat stars rocking out on the piano!
For humans, listening to music can be entertaining, make them feel good, or even just be a relaxing background noise. That makes sense—we want to share one of our favorite things to do with our pets. But do cats like music? If they listen to it, do they learn anything?
Do cats like music?
Have you ever played your favorite song on your cat? In very rare cases, some cats have found that certain types of music calm them down. Cat shelters sometimes play old music for their residents because they think it makes the environment more relaxing. Cats don’t usually run away from music (unless it’s really loud), but there isn’t a lot of proof that they do. If the cats listening to classical music are lying around and taking a nap, it’s more likely that they were ready for a nap than that Mozart put them to sleep.
What kind of music do cats enjoy?
Do cats like music? The purr is proof. Researchers wrote in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science that cats do like music. How do we know what kind of music cats like? In the end, they can’t say whether they like Mozart or Brahms better.
David Teie is a very good cellist who has played with everyone from Metallica to the National Symphony Orchestra. He writes music with beats that sound like cats purring, birds chirping, and even nursing. The name of the music he makes, “Species-Appropriate Music,” fits him well. He let researchers study and test his theory that cats, especially young cats and kittens, do not like music made for humans as much as they like songs made for other cats.
What does music made just for cats sound like? The New York Times notes that in some tracks, hurried streams of staccato overlaid with bird chirps create an energizing effect.
Currently, cat-specific music aims to soothe cats, not stimulate them to dance. Teie tells The Telegraph that one reason for this is that speakers “don’t make noises that are high-pitched enough” to send out more lively sounds that cats can hear. The Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (JAHVMA) says that cats can hear frequencies up to 64,000 hertz, but people can only hear frequencies between 20 and 20,000 hertz. An article on PBS by Megan Savage and Charles Snowdon, psychologists at the University of Wisconsin, says that cats will enjoy music that is in the frequency range and has tempos that are similar to how cats naturally talk to each other.
How do these scientists know that a cat likes this music, though? According to Smithsonian Magazine, researchers would record how many cats would purr, rub against the speakers, or turn their heads and ears toward the music.
The study shows that scientists also like cats, and some of them are looking into what kinds of music cats like, if any. In the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science, a new study delves deeper into the scientific side of what cats like about music.
The study shows that cats don’t have a preference for the music that their owners listen to. However, this doesn’t mean that cats don’t like music. It appears that cats really enjoy music! It’s all about how we communicate and interact with the world around us. Communication is the foundation of the music we create and enjoy. You may have noticed that the way we talk and interact with each other is very different from how cats do it.
It’s possible that your pet doesn’t really like Jay Z or Bach, but that doesn’t mean they don’t like music in general. It just means that cats like different kinds of music than people do.
Cat music
What is it about music that cats don’t understand? Or, what’s more important: how can we start making cat music that they like?
Researchers are trying to figure out what it is about certain types of music that makes them good for different species, since they found that music is species-specific. The beats of the music we like are similar to those of our hearts, and the vocal and acoustic ranges are within our comprehension.
Understanding that cats and people have very different bodies and senses makes it clear that the music that cats would enjoy is very different from the music that people would enjoy. Scientists are still trying to figure out what kind of music cats like, and they’re starting to make pieces that work on the same frequency range that cats use to talk to each other.
Cats can tell
It’s amazing how well cats can tune their senses. They can smell and hear much better than other people. Cats’ perception of the world significantly influences the question of whether they enjoy music.
Music for people should please our senses; music for cats should do the same.
Cat whiskers can sense even the smallest changes in the air. They can hear very well, which is an added bonus. Any of these things could indicate that your cat thinks the music you like is too loud or has too much bass.
When considering their senses and their speech patterns, researchers have discovered that cats experience music completely differently. You might not notice that your cat is listening to your favorite song, but when you play music with the right tone, pitch, and tempo for cats, they clearly enjoy it—they’ve even been known to rub up against speakers and purr!
Everything points to the fact that cats do enjoy music. If this species-specific field of study keeps going, we might be able to find a whole new range of cat music to play for our beloved pets. This would give them a better understanding of the world, mental stimulation, and something fun to do! That being said, keep in mind that just as your cat may not like your music taste, you might not like theirs either.
