It’s just the first of May and it’s already time for the big smash-bang-crash movies. HULK SMASH! (The summer movie season will soon start in, oh, FEBRUARY if the movie studios have their way.) While I like characters like Iron Man and Black Widow and Captain America- this movie would be better with……..KITTENS.
A little bit country a little bit rock n’ roll as the saying goes…with humans it’s quit easy to determine what music we like, but how about our cats? While we may project our personal tastes onto our feline companions the truth is that the musical preference of cats, and other species, has very little to do with what we like.
David Teie, musician and creator of Music For Cats, set out to discover exactly what responses cats and other species had to music. Working with Psychologist Charles Snowdon at the University of Wisconsin they initially studied how cotton-topped tamarin monkeys reacted to David’s “species-specific” music. This would become the first controlled study to show a significant response to music from non-humans. They then decided to test how cats would react to specific music and Teie, who coauthored the study, said he believes cats enjoy music, or at least display preferences.
Put away the heavy metal and break out the classical cat tunes.
We know that felines can have selective hearing, i.e. not coming when called and then appearing out of nowhere when you open any can of food because they think they are being fed, but would they respond to the sound of music personalized just for them?
Image Pintrest
Researchers determined the best way to get cats to listen to music was to develop “a theoretical framework that hypothesizes that in order for music to be effective with other species, it must be in the frequency range and with similar tempos to those used in natural communication by each species.”
Based on this theory vocalizations of cats were matched to music of the same frequency range, about an octave or higher than human voices. The team replicated the tempo of things that cats would find interesting – one song featured a purring tempo, and another featured a suckling tempo. Researchers also said since “cats use lots of sliding frequencies in their calls, the cat music had many more sliding notes than the human music.“
Cats prefer their own special blend of music – Image PBS.org
Cat songs were played back to 47 domestic cats, and two human classical songs – Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air on a G String and Gabriel Fauré’s Elegie were played. Observations showed that the cats didn’t respond at all to the human music. But when the cat music started up, they became excited and started approaching the speakers, often rubbing their scent glands on them, which means they were trying to claim the object. The study also found that younger and older cats respond more to feline-specific music than middle-aged cats.
Music to make me purr please –Image – Wikipedia
Real life applications of music for cats is practical as it could be used to calm cats in shelters, veterinary offices, while boarding and in the home where it could help prevent separation anxiety. David Teie has developed three songs in different styles to convey different moods: Kitty Ditties, Cat Ballads and Feline Airs. They are Spooks Ditty, Cozmo Air, and Rusty’s Ballad which you can try out on your own cats at home.
Recently he talked about his music and played it for the cats of New York’s first Cat Cafe Meow Parlour. Check out how big city cats react, or don’t react, in this video.
Curious about cat music? Give it a try and be sure to leave a comment below letting me know if your cat enjoys it.
It’s been a very busy week but relief is insight as I get ready to take a short holiday. In preparation I was out picking up last-minute items and discovered some cat themed finds that would be perfect for vacation…well that’s my excuse, as these fun accessories would be good anytime!
Fall is in the air and that means sock season is back. Now I am not usually a fan of wearing socks but I would give some serious thought to wearing any of these to keep my feet snug and warm on a plane ride. What better reason to take your shoes off? They are just too perfect and thinking about them brings a smile to my face.
Another important necessity on holiday is sunglasses, and this means you need a cool case to put them in. These cases by CatsEye London provide the perfect protection for your shades or your reading glasses and come in three different images.
Midnight: not a sound from the pavement…
Look your best with this keen little kitty.
Also from CatsEye, makeup bags, just right for putting your travel size items in and passing the security check. I picked up the Silver Kitty pattern for myself.
Tabby cat keeps your essential under you paw
Big Cats guard your make up
Finally, ensuring your iPhone is ensconced in cats is that much easier with the Cat Riot, love the name, case by Zero Gravity. You will be sure not to misplace it when you have all these cat faces staring at you. Sorry iPhone 6 people, looks like for now you will have to wait for your case.
Calling all Cat Ladies – $23.95 for iPhone 4 and 5
Be sure to follow my Cat-stagram feed for more feline fashion finds
I really look forward to going back to volunteering at the animal shelter when I have been away from it for a while. Today’s visit spanned generations from kittens to an awesome older kitty. Wordless Wednesday…because really, a picture is worth a thousand meows.
Sleek Beauty Mystique ID A683140
Nemo the vocal, sweet Siamese ID A685394
For more shelter pics be sure to check out my Cat-stagram
All these wonderful cats and more are available for adoption at Toronto Animal Services South Region located at the Canadian National Exhibition Place. Animals can also be viewed on-line. 🐱
Today I was doing a cat visit and noticed my clients had some cool cat bowls from IKEA…which made me think of the feline infused commercial they did a number of years back filmed in their Wembley UK flagship store. The humans, aka cat herders, worked behind the scenes to ensure all the cats, none were specially trained, enjoyed their massive playground.
The behind the scenes video is pretty neat – no cats were harmed and apart from probably being the largest space they ever had to explore, they all seemed to have a grand old time.
Of course after the all the editing, not that cats need to be edited, we are left with adorable feline curiosity and grace. Yes IKEA, we are still Happy Inside 🐱
This weekend I was literally knocked off my feet, hit by a bad flu bug, it not only disrupted my entire weekend but will continue to wreak havoc with my week it seems…oh it has also left me a little grumpy 😦 Today coming out of the doctor’s office I stumbled upon a basket of kittens! Take that you nasty flu! Immediately my spirits lifted and I smiled, kittens the cure-all for any bad day.
Kittens in a basket – I will take 3 please!
The kind lady who was walking around with them explained to me that she had rescued a feral mom cat this past winter, which was particularly bad even by Canadian standards, and the little stray who was just a baby herself, turned out to be pregnant. So she had her babies – 3 beautiful sons pictured here, did an amazing job raising them and will be spayed and continue to live with her rescuer. The 3 kittens, who were very relaxed and sleepy already had potential adopters waiting to take them home. I will add that the kittens were very healthy looking, happy, safe and had no desire to leave their basket at any time. They were enjoying all the attention from passersby stopping, petting and just giving them lots of love. Clearly these babies had a good upbringing and human to look out for them.
They didn’t know where to look!
This is a great example of how one person can make a difference and it’s wonderful to see compassion for animals in my neighborhood. I hope to get an update on these little guys at some point and will be sure to share it. 🐱
“Take care of my babies. Take them with you wherever you go.”
― William S. Burroughs, The Cat Inside
