Ever wondered why patients seem to recover faster or feel better when they listen to soothing music? It provides a powerful distraction for them from feeling the discomfort, pain, stress and anxiety caused by the illness. Music can calm and uplift a person. Same thing seems to hold true for our feline friends.
Music Calms Your Cat on a Car Ride
Have you experienced driving your cat to the clinic where you have to deal with the ruckus in the car because your cat does not seem to be able to stop crying and yowling? It is painful to watch our cats in a great deal of stress. Try to play a soft, soothing piece of instrumental music. Within 5 minutes, your cat should react to the tune and calm down and relax.
How does Music Work in Cats?
Music provides a great therapy for cats with stress or anxiety issues. It has been studied that both dogs and cats can benefit from listening to soothing music which lowers their heart palpitation and blood pressure level, slows breathing, elevates endorphin level, and reduces stress. Cats can pick up certain tone that is inaudible to humans. The sound seems to be therapeutic to these animals and greatly decrease their stress level. When you play the music, turn the volume down to low so it will not disturb your cat's sleep.
Music Can Help Treat Behavior Issues
Calm and soothing music can help cats with psychological issues, though this theory still requires more scientific research. Anxiety and stress can be a trigger to many physical illnesses in a cat such as the kitty flu or feline upper respiratory infection and urinary tract infection. Even for a perfectly healthy cat, stress can manifest into numerous behavioral problems such as feline aggression, spraying, inappropriate elimination, loss of appetite, excessive meowing, trembling, hiding from the world, pulling out of fur and so on. A stressed cat is very vulnerable and prone to getting sick. It is just like human. We are much stronger physically if we are happy and stress-free.
Music can complement treatment for feline stress related issues. If you want to stop your cats from fighting each other, try to play some music. It will help them relax and even put them to sleep. It is a great way for cats to cope with their undesirable behavior.
What Kind of Music is Good for Cats?
What's the best instrumental music for cats? Generally, harp and piano are the best choices for cats. When you pluck a harp string, it produces a particular tone that pacifies cats more effectively than most of other instruments.
Below is a good example of harp music that your cat may enjoy:
Image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sindykids/3773507771/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Source:
The Cat Behavior answer Book by Arden Moore