(Feline Mixtape) Study Reveals Calming Cat Sounds & A Cat + Human Playlist
Photo credit: Dids
As humans, we assume to know what animals enjoy based on our own preferences. Because we domesticated animals to become our pets, we removed them from their environments and placed them in a world that does not require them to use their instincts. In their natural form, animals are predators and communicators. what if it were all reversed, and animals were the dominant species? Would we like what we saw, smelled, touched, and tasted? Would we find that we were bored or overstimulated? These are the types of questions that you might ponder while imbibing or partaking of cannabis, or if you are an animal research scientist.
The Research
In recent years, two studies emerged on the science of sound and cats. The most recent study was published by a group of researchers at Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge who examined the effects of music on behavior of domestic cats in a veterinary clinical setting. A previous study shows that cats take up to five weeks to overcome stress from a novel environment and this research was conducted to determine if playing music could help cats cope better with that stress (1). The study measured feline responses to sounds utilizing a Cat Stress Score utilizing silence, classical music, and cat music. The results from the study concluded that "Cats showed a significant preference for and interest in species-appropriate music compared with human music.”(2)
A similar study had been published in the Journal Applied Animal Behavioral Science (2015), which examined the effects of human music compared to species specific music had on domestic cats. The researchers of this study created a soundtrack when played for cats elicited a positive response by approaching the speakers more quickly than when playing classical music. The study concluded that feline-appropriate music might mimic the rhythmic and tonal qualities of a purr, or a kitten suckling at its mother's teat layered in with tempos, and melodies calm an agitated cat more quickly.(3)
The Playlist
Based on the conclusions from these two studies, I decided to see if I could generate a playlist of human music that could be enjoyed by both cats and their keepers. Utilizing the findings as a guide, these selected songs that have a deep bass or cello rhythm may mimic the sounds of a cat’s purr or heartbeat. Whether your cat likes it is up to them but I am certain you’ll enjoy it. You can listen to the Animal Republic - Feline Mixtape playlist on Spotify or see the list below.
As we all seek to better understand how to better enrich the lives of pets, we can seek different ways to incorporate mutually beneficial tastes within our residences, so that every species feels like they are a part of the home.
Animal Republic - Feline Mixtape
Repos – Jorane
Cellophane – FKA Twigs
Restless – Nneka
House of the Rising Sun – Alex Kislov, Arii
Transylvanian Concubine – Rasputina
No Woman, No Cry – Sheku Kanneh-Mason
Foxglove – Murder by Death
Step – Vampire Weekend
Fix History – Teach Me Equals
Sun Will Set – Zoë Keating
Overgrown – James Blake
Loud Places – Jaime xx, Romy
A Bitter Song – Butterfly Boucher
Sunflower – 4 Hype Brothas
I Follow Rivers – Marika Hackman
Bang Bang – 2Cellos, Ferriera
Haunted – Stwo, Sevdaliza
Will + Worry – Land Lines
Believer – Simply Three
References:
(1) Hawkins KR, Stress enrichment and the welfare of domestic cats in rescue shelters. PhD dissertation, Department of Clinical Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, 2005.(2) Hampton, Amanda, Alexandra Ford, Roy E CoxIII, Chin-chi Liu, and Ronald Koh. "Effects of music on behavior and physiological stress response of domestic cats in a veterinary clinic: ." Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery OnlineFirst (2019) 1.
(3) Snowden CT and Teie D and Savage M, Cats prefer species appropriate music. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2015; 166: 106-111.