Do Cats & Kittens Like Music?

Have you ever been in the situation where your little one jolts out of the room or starts hissing because of the music you’re listening to? Oddly enough, I have. With Beau, it seems to be the sound of oboes that terrify him, and sometimes when I’m composing more suspenseful or “thriller” sound designs he has to leave the room because of the stressful sounds.

So, what kind of music do cats like, and do they even like it at all?

Well, there are actually a few styles that cats do like and there are actually a number of songs with your cats in mind! All cat will have different styles that they like and react to, however, some winners for styles & sounds are slower piano music, extended “drone” music, and the mellow sound of a female alto,

So what makes music, cat music?

Well, it highly has to do with the rhythms and frequencies. Cats will respond better to music that mimics the tonal and rhythmic qualities of a purr. Cats can also hear much higher frequencies than we can, so if you’re tapping into the higher registers you may actually have yourself a winner.

So how do I know my cat likes the music?

Well, you will often see a difference in their attitude and breathing. For example, when we brought Kalista home last week she was hyperventilating, so my hubby and I decided to play some of the music I wrote for Beau while he was in recovery. Almost immediately after it had started playing Kalista took a sigh of relief and her breathing got progressively slower until she was asleep.

Cats will also scent the playback device if they are a fan of it, or will sit on the device to listen closer. This is very true of Beau, whenever he hears a song that he really likes he will come into my office and scent the subwoofer as if it was a human. As soon as he scents it, he will commonly sit in my lap and purr or sleep right next to the subwoofer (or if it’s playing through the laptop he’ll sometimes sleep on the keyboard).

Tuna from Da Tabbies O Trout Towne had a similar reaction to the album “Fur Beau” and decided to sleep on his mama’s tablet, which we find absolutely adorable! We’re so glad you’re a fan!

Each Cat will respond to Music Differently

We’ve tried a lot of music with Beau, especially in recovery. We tried a bunch of different styles of “cat music”, but we found a number of them didn’t work even though they were working for other cats (from what we saw in the comments). Beau didn’t seem to like songs with simulated purring (or had real purring) and started shaking as soon as he heard them and he wasn’t a huge fan of droning or whooshing noises either (probably because he’s afraid of things like wind). The songs he calmed down to the most were slow songs with bells, piano, strings, or synths. He also liked songs better when they were in the mid-to-high range and wasn’t a huge fan of the lower register (oh, drat! Does that mean he hates my singing?)

So Pet Parents & Pet Lovers, have you ever played a song for your little one that they seem to enjoy? Have you ever used any cat specific music? If so, which have you tried? I’d love to try them out! And if you want to try out any of mine you can find a playlist on Spotify!