Music for Cats
If you think your cat wants to listen to that old-time rock and roll, think again. Apparently, cats prefer a different set of frequencies, and David Teie is ready to capitalize on the burgeoning cat music market. Cat music features sounds similar to those of chirping birds, kittens suckling, and gentle purring. The songs are designed to induce your cat into a state of relaxation. As if the average house cat has much trouble relaxing.
Teie, a classical musician, is currently raising funds on kickstarter.com to record “an album featuring the first-ever music scientifically proven to enrich cats’ lives.” Your cat will likely be demanding the CD for Christmas. Lest you think this isn’t serious business, note that Americans spent nearly $74 billion on their pets last year and the pet market continues to expand. Who can blame Teie for wanting a piece of it?
I have no idea if Teie’s music is actually going to appeal to cats, or if so how universal cats’ musical tastes are.
I do have the impression that cats have musical taste though.
– years ago, I had the ill-formed idea I would learn to play guitar. The cat would bolt like lightning from the room every time I picked up the guitar. I don’t blame him. I would have too.
– some time later, I was a bedroom DJ. The cat would happily sit around listening to psytrance, as long as my mixes were reasonably clean. But if I train-wrecked a mix, he reacted with visible distaste.Report
My husband has a voice that cats adore.Report
I trained my cats to come to me when I whistle.
When two of them were kittens, I was learning to play the harmonica (again). I noticed that the kittens would always come into the room when I started with the harmonica. From there, it was easy to get them to come to the whistle.
When I got another kitten, and the first two were about three years, she just followed what the other two did.
Now they will come from two blocks away when they hear the whistle.
Every cat owner should have a harmonica.Report
Every cat owner should have patience enough to train cats.Report
As someone who is saying “that could never work… could it? Seriously, this hasn’t been tested, has it?”, I’d just like to know if this cd works from some other poor sucker who bought it first.Report
There’s a video embedded in the article that shows several well-known Internet cats getting their groove on the Teie’s cat music. But that doesn’t exactly constitute scientific proof.Report
“…well-known Internet cats…”
That is a phrase that makes me want to burn down the entire world.Report
It is a phrase that makes me want to hug the Internet. At least the cat-shaped part.Report
There are two kinds of people in the world: cats and people who hate them.Report
I just thank god that the Kitty Hats aren’t famous.
They’ve actually been banned from the internet (at least google won’t dish).Report
When do we start?Report
The problem is that observing cats determines the outcome. Makes experiments involving them very difficult.Report
It doesn’t matter if it works. What matters is that cat owners think it works.Report
Cats, huh? Didn’t someone already write a musical specifically accommodating their tastes? Did pretty well as I recall.Report
My cat has no interest in music, not even at fairly loud volumes. What she does care about is whether or not she’s getting her “scratching”, brushing, or general loving from me, and when she damn well wants it, not when it’s convenient for me.Report
Based on a composite score of meow frequency and intensity during car travel, I can report that my cats enjoy smooth jazz, tolerate electronica, and greatly dislike rock.Report