Music for cats

[Keit]

I stumbled upon the following research that was published a year ago. Sounds intriguing.

Effects of music on behavior and physiological stress response of domestic cats in a veterinary clinic

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Objectives
Our objective was to determine if feline-specific music played in a veterinary clinical setting would promote lower cat stress scores (CSSs), lower mean handling scale scores (HSs) and reduced neutrophil:lymphocyte ratios (NLRs) in cats during physical examinations.
Methods
Cats were exposed to one of three auditory stimuli tests – silence, classical music and cat-specific music – during three physical examinations 2 weeks apart. CSSs were recorded at pre- and post-auditory tests and during the examination period. The HSs were recorded at the physical examination period. The physiological stress was assessed via NLRs.
Results
The pre-auditory test showed no difference in CSS between cats listening to silence, classical music and cat music. CSSs for post-auditory tests and examination periods were not significantly different between silence and classical music; however, CSSs were significantly decreased in cats listening to cat music vs silence and in cats listening to cat music vs classical music. HSs were not different in cats listening to silence vs classical music, but were significantly lower in cats listening to cat music vs silence and classical music. No difference was found in NLRs among all three auditory stimuli tests.
Conclusions and relevance
Listening to cat-specific music prior to, and during, physical examination was associated with lower CSSs and lower HSs in cats, but had no effect on the physiological stress responses measured by NLRs. We conclude that cat-specific music may benefit cats by decreasing the stress levels and increasing the quality of care in veterinary clinical settings.

Here's a recording of "cat music". Maybe those of you, who have cats could test this music and see how your kitties respond to it? Of course, ideally, this music should be played at the vet as well, but maybe the vet wouldn't mind a bit of music in the background as a test? Just an idea.

 

[Nienna]

Okay, I don't know how this may affect others' cats, but it sure made me relax! I also noted the purring. Cats purr, not only when they are feeling satisfied/content, but when they are sick. So maybe it has the same affect when they are stressed?

Anyway, thanks for sharing, keit!

 

[Maat]

I just played it to my little Lilly. She stayed quiet, with her eyes closing. Don't know if she's really enjoying it but it's sure not like some diaphonic song I played while listening to a show. That, she really hated it and gone fast hiding somewhere ! I surely noticed this because it was the first time she reacted like this with all the music I can listen.

 

[Yupo]

Goodness! My cat was immediately interested in the music. She curled up by the screen, but with ears up. Changed posture as music sections changed. Became docile, even. This is my cat Molly, AKA Heart of Darkness sometimes.

 

[Yupo]

I plan to load the whole album onto an iPod, so as to leave it playing when I am away from home.
I wonder what kind of sounds dogs might like. Probably mama's heartbeat and sounds of litter mates breathing and whimpering while mama licks them?

 

[Adaryn]

I just played it to my little Lilly. She stayed quiet, with her eyes closing.

My cat seems to be enjoying it too. But then she was already chilling out on the couch when I began playing the music. She was attentive and alert at the beginning, with her ears pricked up, and then she became very relaxed and closed her eyes. She's now in dreamland.

 

[Maat]

Second test with my other cat, Mystic. The two are as different in character than physically. Lilly is like my avatar, and Mystic is here :



Lilly is alert, intrepid, friendly, and Mystic is low and very fearful and anxious.

So, when I played it, Mystic began to move his ears, and then he got up and seemed to be searching something, with his nose in the air. After that (maybe 10 mn), he finally ended up with his usual routine, go to hide somewhere else...

 

[Keit]

Here's something else you may try with your or other cats.

Feline friendly? How to build rap-paw with your cat - new psychology study

A team of psychologists at the Universities of Sussex and Portsmouth have discovered a way for humans to bond with cats.

www.eurekalert.org

A team of psychologists at the Universities of Sussex and Portsmouth have purr-fected the art of building a bond with cats.

The new study 'The role of cat eye narrowing movements in cat-human communication', published online in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, has shown for the first time that it is possible to build rapport with a cat by using an eye narrowing technique with them. This eye narrowing action by humans generates something popularly known as a cat smile - the so called "slow blink" - and seems to make the human more attractive to the cat. Eye narrowing movements in cats have some parallels with the genuine smile in humans (the Duchenne smile), as well as eye narrowing movements given in positive situations in some other species.

The team, led by Dr Tasmin Humphrey and Professor Karen McComb, animal behaviour scientists at the University of Sussex, undertook two experiments. The first revealed that cats are more likely to slow blink at their owners after their owners have slow blinked at them, compared to when they don't interact at all. The second experiment, this time with a researcher from the psychology team, rather than the owner, found that the cats were more likely to approach the experimenter's outstretched hand after they'd slow blinked at the cat, compared to when they had adopted a neutral expression. Taken together, the study shows that this slow blinking technique can provide a form of positive communication between cats and humans.

 

[zak]

Here's something else you may try with your or other cats.

It really works with my cat Shadow of the Ninja.
I start by squinting my eyes, winking at her, she on her side starts at her own pace to do the same thing or not always.
The funniest part is when i close both eyes, and open them one by one slowly, or when i blink my eyelids like a butterfly, she tries to follow me to finish upside down with her eyes wide open like this: