Do cats like music?
Personally, I have never seen any indication from my cats that they like music but perhaps this is because I play human music (rarely). I’ll admit to being sceptical. I don’t believe cats do like music despite the plethora of cat music products available. I’ve never bought cat music because I don’t believe in it. There are lots of cat products, a lot of which are pretty useless. They are made for cat owners looking for ways to please their cat. Manufacturers tap into that sentiment.
I searched the excellent cat behavior books that I have on Kindle for a reference to ‘music’ and there were no search results. The experts have seen no reason to remark or comment on whether cats like music which tells me that it is an irrelevancy to these authors with regard to cat behaviour and emotions.
This is not to say that cats are not incredibly sensitive to sounds of all kinds and will respond to music if so inclined. Taking a common sense view the only way we can even get an impression that cats like music is through their reaction to it. If there is a reaction does this tell us that they like it? We can’t be sure.
There is a report of a study on the pbs.org website concerning cat music. The study tested 47 cats and found a “significant preference for and interest in”…cat appropriate music. That’s not a fantastically convincing conclusion. From what I can guess (I have not read the study) the study findings are open ended. It is inconclusive and therefore somewhat of a waste of time. If cats genuinely liked ‘cat music’ they’d demonstrate clearer signs.
I’d like someone to tell me I am wrong but you’ll have to give me chapter verse on the subject to convince me that cats like music and that it does them good.
Sorry that this is so short and negative. I was hoping for something more positive myself.
Michael