The Daily Mail newspaper states that this black-and-white cat attacks the flute playing woman because he hates the music. The journalist says that the cat is enraged by the music and meows menacingly. The flute player is brave, the journalist states, and carries on playing. This is a battle between an angry cat and a gentle woman according to this newspaper’s journalist. But of course we know it isn’t anything like that at all. It is the usual media hype. The question, though, is why is this cat intent on biting the woman playing the flute? It is quite an interesting thought.
https://youtu.be/Vmcy0Uw2w0Y
Firstly, I’m going to suggest that this cat is not attacking the woman. The cat is in fact trying to “play-fight” with the woman. Cats do this a lot. They like to play and when a cat plays they do so with their teeth and claws in an “aggression-limited” fight and in a certain way which is not a true attack but what we might call “rough and tumble”.
Therefore, I would suggest that the sound of the music might have provoked the cat into wishing to play. Alternatively, the music might not be playing any part whatsoever in this scenario. Perhaps the cat simply wanted to play some more because the woman was there and she had been playing with her cat beforehand. An alternative possibility is that the cat was provoked by the sound of the music because the sound may have triggered an instinct to attack prey. Perhaps the sound mimicked the sound of prey; the sort of sound that is embedded in the cat’s DNA as possible prey. The flute does sound like an owl for instance.
You can see that this is not a serious attack as the paper has described because the woman is treating it as a form of play herself. Therefore, she knows what her cat is doing because she understands her cat and no doubt he has done it before.
My conclusion is (and I am open to counter arguments of course) that the sound of the flute provoked a play-fight attack because the sound triggered an “attack prey response” from the cat. The cat is not enraged by anything and certainly not my music. Something may have occurred before the video was made and I’ll suggest, too, that the video was made deliberately knowing that the cat would “attack”. It is possible that before the start of the video the young woman had already being playing with her cat so her cat was in a rumbustious mood and wished to continue. This latter suggestion is my preferred one at this stage.
Strangely, my cat loves me playing a squeezebox. She gets all affectionate when I play and climbs all over me head butting me. I am pretty sure i am to misreading her response and she is not trying to shut me up!
Nice to hear that your cat appears to like music. Cats liking music is an interesting but as yet little known area of feline behaviour. Thanks for commenting Alan.
Michael, I have one of my kitties that doesn’t like certain types of music — generally, anything high pitched — Tabby doesn’t like it when I whistle either. . . I truly believe it bothers her ears — she tends to have a lot of wax build up in her ears and maybe it resonates in the wax. . .she will attempt to bite me if I sing or whistle, but I just laugh at her (she never bites hard, usually just nips me), but it is rather funny, and I just stop whistling or singing, since I know it seems to bother her. . . my other 9 kitties don’t care one way or another about music. . . so as far as this post, it could actually be bothering the kitty, but I don’t feel that it’s anything in a nasty sense as far as the *attacks*. . . it could be something like my Tabby and it truly does hurt the kitty’s ears. . . hopefully, she doesn’t continue to *irritate* the kitty and becomes understanding that it may, indeed, bother the kitty. . . ♥♥♥
Good point Diane. It could indeed be that the music simply bothers her. The question is: why does a cat bite if something bothers him/her? I suppose it is to try and stop it. I think we need more research of cats’ reaction to music. We are still somewhat in the dark about it.
Michael observing my “kids”, I would have to say that the biting has to do with being annoyed by something or someone. . . I have 2 gingers who are brothers(Mario & Luigi — after the game — LOL) and when one annoys the other, he *nips* the other. . . it is rather cute, but I am always telling them to stop picking on each other — sibling rivalry is hilarious!! They never hurt each other — they are rather funny to watch! But I think the biting or *nips* are due to annoyance of some kind. . . ♥♥♥
Like you mentioned, i also believe the flute provoked a play-fight response..I’m just wondering if the woman playing the flute may have expected her cat to react that way and started recording to get her cats response on video..correct me if I’m wrong but i don’t think too many people record themselves playing a flute….
I am in complete harmony with your thoughts, Kevin. She knew her cat would respond that way and recorded it for YouTube. Can’t blame her. We agree that this cat is not “attacking” her in the conventional sense. If the cat was he’d be far more aggressive and cause serious damage. Anyway it would be unthinkable that cat would do that under these circumstances.