Pets & music

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I am catsitting, and the cat's owner instructed me to leave the classical radio station on softly when I leave for work, because the cat enjoys it. (He also told me to completely change the cat litter twice a week, which is insane, but nevermind that.)

Does this seem like anthropomorphization to anyone? Or is it possible that, in some way, the cat really does enjoy classical music?

What are your experiences with pets and music? Does music soothe them? Alarm them? Do they have favorite songs?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

the dog of some friends of mine does a little dance to this one Gal Costa song.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Our cats don't really give a shit about music unless there's a real sudden noise in it that sounds like it might be in the room. But one time I was recording warbly feedback and Sarah's cat came up and started rubbing against my leg, which she never does.

― St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

you found the frequency of cat love!

(p.s. first person to post a dancing cat .gif gets a wedgie.)

― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never noticed my cat reacting to music in any way. He's always seemed to have rationalised the tv and the stereo as "boxes that just make noises and nothing else, and can therefore be ignored"

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:35 (twenty-one years ago)

My cats bliss out to 'classical' music provided it's not Wagner or Stravinsky. I think from a purely ideological point of view, they hate Skynard's 'Freebird' most of all 'cause they're housecats and they're stuck inside.

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

My little cat attacks the TV screen when I'm watching soccer games cause she can follow the ball or the players across the screen. She's pretty miffed that they never come out of the box so she can take a swipe at them for real.

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Haven't there been experiments showing that the growth of plants is affected by different styles of music? If that's so, it seems very plausible that more intelligent (if the 'more' is even warranted there) creatures should be affected by it. There is music in the communication of a lot of animals (birds, whales most obviously), which also makes it seem believable. Whether they appreciate it as music (I mean, I don't see cats saying "Ashkenazy's playing of Mozart's 40th is so gauche darling")(actually, I think I've probably just had a pianist playing violins, so I know even less about classical music than cats) I doubt, or just like a familiar sound, meaning anything that the owner plays would be the right thing, and classical is simply this instance.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:03 (twenty-one years ago)

My cat would probably respond very differently to live music. I once started singing along very loudly to something, and he was terrified.

(I think it was something by the Lollies, but I can't remember what)

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

my cat loves cat stevens, but that's because she's mistaken.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Mozart will make you kids smarter, your chickens lay more eggs, and your plants grow faster, blah, blah, blah.

I still haven't lived down the time my gf came home to find me extremely stoned boogying down to Mozart in my underwear. I think she was really worried for a second.

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:11 (twenty-one years ago)

My frog is silent virtually all the time, but when I drum he make these noises. I don't know if they mean "cut that shit out, it's annoying" or "damn I SO want to mate with you".

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

my cats like female vocalists with quiet music: kristin hersh, lisa germano. I don't know why.

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

michael eavis' cows to thread

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

My cats were both totally freaked out by the mewing in "Pussy Cat Blues" (Broonzy w. Jane Lucas, vocal.)

― ian, Monday, 8 December 2008 22:05 (seventeen years ago)

i have a cat that really likes acoustic-based female singers like kristin hersh and lisa germano. said cat is also a freak so that might have something to do with it, I think she finds them comforting.

― akm, Monday, 8 December 2008 22:21 (seventeen years ago)

oh I just posted that above, sorry for repeating myself four years later.

― akm, Monday, 8 December 2008 22:22 (seventeen years ago)

my guinea pig used to hate whistling when it was young. started to make angry noises. got used to it now or something.

― Ludo, Tuesday, 9 December 2008 10:48 (seventeen years ago)

Cosmo and Bob both get freaked out by ultra-realistic or familiar noises, either in music or on films we're watching via DVD. Bob, hence, is not keen on Califone, and Cosmo got a bit excited when a phone rang in The Bourne Ultimatum.

― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 9 December 2008 16:08 (seventeen years ago)

i dont know about music but my cat watches jimmy kimmel live

― RADNESS UNLIMITED! (sunny successor), Tuesday, 9 December 2008 16:29 (seventeen years ago)

after I adopted kittens the person who gave them to me told me to keep the stereo on low when I was away. I would always try and put it on an oldies station or something but whenever I came home I would find out that they moved the knob to mariachi music.

― cool app (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 9 December 2008 17:25 (seventeen years ago)

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