# Can pets like or dislike classical?



## candi (Nov 15, 2014)

I'm not a pet owner though we did semi-raise two cottontails in our yard until it was time to let them free. Do your pets like classical music? Does a cat meow to Mozart? A dog bark to Bach? Do they hate your selection and indicate so or soldierly suffer until the sounds are silenced?

Do they have favorites? How do you know?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Animals respond to sound more on a completely sensate level, i.e. without psychological or 'personal' bias or preference. I had a cat who loved to sit on top of the grand piano while I practiced, he would lie on his back at the edge of the lid (down) and hang his head over the strings and watch the hammers.

They like the vibrations, the more 'soothing / settling' the greater the preference.

That same critter _was extremely freaked_ by the frequencies produced by electronic music when I played that on the stereo, but other than that, seemed to have no marked preference whether what was being played was Bach, Mozart, Stravinsky or Berg 

Even more without any mind present to influence 'perception,' all that hooey about plants 'preferring' classical over hard rock has that fact on the basis plants respond well to moving air in a certain degree of velocity and strength, ergo, classical is more like what they would get out of doors, rock ain't. This has absolutely nothing to do with aesthetics as much as the physical dynamics of air flow, and what provides that which helps them thrive -- a fan would do the job just as well as Mozart!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

My dog runs away whenever I play classical music.

We used to be so close.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

My newspaper reported recently that a study found that hens laid more eggs if they were played classical music (hey, a new Mozart Effect) than if they were played rock music. So I suppose that animals can respond to the nature of sounds.

Whether they perceive pattern in music and appreciate it has not been established. They can recognise particular tunes. I remember my junior teacher told a story of her dog: it was always fed after a particular programme on commercial TV. The signature tune played at the beginning of the programme - after the commercial break - and then at the end of the programme. Only then did the dog move kitchenwards.

So it's a matter of opinion. I personally think dogs and cats function emotionally like ourselves, though there's a difference of degree. I also note how often scientists dismiss these things as 'anthropomorphisation', then find out that the animal owner is right. For example, it used to be said that dogs couldn't focus on a TV screen, but dog owners know that their dog can watch some programmes, especially nature programmes, and a few years ago, researchers found that they can indeed respond to 'things on the telly'.

And cows were not thought to be cognitively sensitive, but it's just been discovered that they can call their own calves from the herd *by name* - that is, their lowing is individualised for each calf.

That is so touching that it makes me want to become a vegetarian!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I believe they hear music as "noise". Dogs have terrifically sensitive hearing and when I play my music, the volume is probably more than the dog can tolerate. So he "leaves the room".


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Because of the noise factor, ten minutes ago I had an idea. I left the dog in my listening room with the score of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto. I figured if he could just study it silently....
Sad to say, I just came back from my noble experiment and the dog urinated on the score.
Not sure if he was making a statement.

(PS: I love the Schoenberg Concerto and recently listened to it and posted it on Current Listening.)


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

My dog seems to enjoy classical music.

The goldfish seems indifferent.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Our old cat didn't like anything apart from sleeping, eating and the occasional bit of hunting on those rare occasions when she felt sufficiently energetic. The only music to her ears was the shaking of the Go-Cat box by one of her human slaves to indicate mealtime. I loved her but I can honestly say that she was probably the grumpiest, most antisocial creature I've ever known, humans included.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I think hpowders is right about animals being sensitive to pitch or loudness. We had a cat that hated it when I played the recorder. (She wasn't the only one.) She would jump on my knee and butt the instrument out of my mouth. And our border terrier (after whom Taggart is named) used to squeal in protest when I played my violin high up on the E string. 

But I do think that animals can be calmed by classical music and appreciate it in that sense; and also that we are finding out all the time that animals are capable of more than we thought.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

That's funny about the cat and the recorder. I hate when cats and dogs act like animals.


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## Kibbles Croquettes (Dec 2, 2014)

A few years ago my friend went for a long holiday and left his cat to me for the time. I figured that maybe I could sooth the cat by emulating purring sounds with white noise that was amplitude modulated with the mean purring frequency of a cat. The cat was old and its hearing had detoriated so I had to play the emulated purring very loud and ended up blowing out my speakers.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

If I sit at the piano and start playing, my dog will get up from his spot, pause and _glare_ at me, then slowly walk away. :scold:


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

My cats don't respond to music, but they're terrified of the vacuum cleaner. This gives me an out when i don't feel like doing house work.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

When I was a child my dog used to start howling when I practiced the clarinet. This was my excuse for not practicing.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

My wife's dogs are indifferent to classical music :\.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Research suggests it's the rhythm that animals respond to, and that they don't want steady beats because they may find them threatening.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trevor-cox/what-music-do-animals-like_b_5536341.html


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## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

My two cats don't respond at all to any music I've ever played. They just mostly sleep. Then again, they sleep 16+ hours a day...


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

A question I have is: Can pets COMPREHEND classical music? Can their faculties analyze a Beethoven piece?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

My two dogs are classical music dogs. If KUSC is playing, all is well. When my wife goes out to volunteer at the hospital, she turns on KUSC softly on the small stereo in our upstairs bedroom, and the dogs go there and sleep for the five or six hours until she returns.

Occasionally playing some rock music, though, is a change in routine. And that, they cannot abide. Read about poodles -- it's true!


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

My dogs don't care about music, but there are movies they don't like. Whenever I play Das Boot or a horror movie with low frequency rumbling, my smallest pup dives into my lap and tries to crawl inside my shirt.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Cosmos said:


> If I sit at the piano and start playing, my dog will get up from his spot, pause and _glare_ at me, then slowly walk away. :scold:


A critic! __________________


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

albertfallickwang said:


> A question I have is: Can pets COMPREHEND classical music? Can their faculties analyze a Beethoven piece?


Who do you think writes and posts all the various _Cliffs-Notes_ type of analysis of pieces online -- or, for that matter -- those brief theoretic analyses as found in Wiki articles?

"Will write harmonic analysis for food." ~ they're that naive!


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

PetrB said:


> Who do you think writes and posts all the various _Cliffs-Notes_ type of analysis of pieces online -- or, for that matter -- those brief theoretic analyses as found in Wiki articles?
> 
> "Will write harmonic analysis for food." ~ they're that naive!


I do think that higher animals experience some vague type of emotion so they can respond to classical music accordingly. But a scientist might be better on this topic than I can provide.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

albertfallickwang said:


> I do think that higher animals experience some vague type of emotion so they can respond to classical music accordingly. But a scientist might be better on this topic than I can provide.


I can't imagine how animals could respond emotionally to Classical music. Maybe they have their own "music" of sorts. Heck, most human beings don't really respond emotionally to Classical music, and we're all the same species.

Googling, I found this:

http://www.wired.com/2009/09/monkeymusic/


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

The only response my Manx had to music was, when there were excessively high notes, his ear would twitch. He also hated it when I picked up the saxophone. He had no problem with my wife playing the piano. But he preferred her anyway.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

I recall watching a video where somebody was playing the cello (Bach?) near a bunch of cows, and all of the cows started approaching her. It was pretty interesting.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

Our Turkish Angora cat loves classical music. When I first brought him home, he was audibly very upset in the cage use to transport him. So I turned on the car radio and the only music that was calming to him was classical. 

He loves to listen to music while curled up on my desk next to my PC keyboard. 

Our other cat, a Maine ****, could care less about any music.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

^^^^^ Yes, that reminds me - when we made long journeys with our dogs, or took our cat to the vets, we used to play classic fm on the car radio as it did seem to help keep them quiet and calm. With the cat, I also sat in the back with him, stuck my fingers through the mesh of the cat carrier, and told him continuously what a good boy he was - we had found him as a stray kitten and he had such a great fear of cars that we wondered if he'd been thrown out of one.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

musicrom said:


> I recall watching a video where somebody was playing the cello (Bach?) near a bunch of cows, and all of the cows started approaching her. It was pretty interesting.


I've seen the exact same thing with a garage rock band. Kids practicing in their garage across from a farm, and the cows were leaning over the fence to hear.

And then there's this. If you listen carefully, you can hear one of the cows mumble something about Bix Beiderbecke.

http://www.godvine.com/Dairy-Cows-Are-Completely-Mesmerized-by-a-Jazz-Band-2447.html


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## Kibbles Croquettes (Dec 2, 2014)

Oh, and Glenn Gould singing Mahler to elephants. Obviouslioysly (not obviously but... obviouslioysly, you know) Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=57kR6RsV2iA#t=94

I'm not sure, though, if elephants count as pets. Maybe somewhere in the world?


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

I've mentioned it before, but when I used to practice piano consistently, my dog would sit next to the piano bench and listen to me; but she'd whine whenever I played anything in the higher registers, or if I played too loudly. Now, in her old age, she's as deaf as late Beethoven so she's happy with whatever I play.


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## spokanedaniel (Dec 23, 2014)

hpowders said:


> Because of the noise factor, ten minutes ago I had an idea. I left the dog in my listening room with the score of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto. I figured if he could just study it silently....
> Sad to say, I just came back from my noble experiment and the dog urinated on the score.
> Not sure if he was making a statement.


Brilliant!



musicrom said:


> I recall watching a video where somebody was playing the cello (Bach?) near a bunch of cows, and all of the cows started approaching her. It was pretty interesting.


I used to work on a dairy farm. Any time we parked the pickup truck in the pasture, all the cows would surround it and press their noses against the windows. Cows will investigate anything.

Dogs and cats obviously can recognize and respond to sounds. Many animals communicate through vocalization. I suspect that whether or not a given animal likes or dislikes any particular kind of music is as personal as it is with people. But then, it's hard to know for sure. My cat answered all questions with "Meow," which I suspect meant "Could you repeat that in cat please? I don't understand you."


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## candi (Nov 15, 2014)

Thanks for all the insights. I think I should of played some Lully to the rabbits. They are quite clever. We had one we named Downspout. It grew in our inner garden. Upon reaching mating age, she wanted out, so we let her leave. The next morning, the rabbit was back in the yard. Our yard is completely sealed with a 5 foot high fence and no opening that a rodent can slip past. We were dumbfounded and again let her out so she could be with rabbit-kind. Again next morning she was back in the yard. This happened over the summer and she would wait every morning by the gate to be let out. Every night she'd be back in, and there were no traces of where she could get in. Perhaps she hopped on the grill outside the wall, but the it was always dusty and no prints. There were there ornamental grates leaning against the side of the brick wall... perhaps she climbed. We miss her. A crow got to her and I had to shovel out the remains. Downspout had trained us to let her out every morning for months.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I discovered my dog will remain in my listening room with me with Mahler's Fourth Symphony if I provide him with a choice piece of fillet mignon in a small dish. He's usually gone though by the development section of movement 1.


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## Guest (Dec 27, 2014)

Ingélou said:


> That is so touching that it makes me want to become a vegetarian!


Quite so!

And it was a cat that introduced me to suizen!


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Not domestic animals but fun - http://www.talkclassical.com/15068-most-incredibly-lame-classical-66.html#post790562

:tiphat: Lunasong


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

My dog did once look curiously when I was playing Handel loudly, but I don't know if that counts as an opinion.
I tried singing to my chickens, but alas, Verdi was lost on them.
However, I am fairly certain that my cat dislikes classical music on the grounds that he dislikes absolutely everything.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

I've heard that they favor classical, but who knows. What I am certain of is that they don't like anything played excessively loud, as their hearing is quite sensitive.


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## soundoftritones (Dec 24, 2014)

My bunny likes it when I play piano; she runs to the piano room from wherever she was in the house to sit under the table and listen to me XD However, when I play more recent music on the radio (like Drake, Maroon 5, and so on), she runs away to a different room. ^^"


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Presumably cats would favour string music.










I'll get my coat...


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

elgars ghost said:


> Presumably cats would favour string music.


Not if they knew what those strings were made of!

Which may answer the question for cats, at least, as to why they may_ not _like classical music, especially that featuring stringed instruments such as violins and cellos.

(By the way, the following is an intriguing article: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index...rings-were-never-made-out-of-actual-cat-guts/ )


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