Want a novel way to please, entertain and add culture to your cats’ life? Give them music. Cats, in fact, love music and are very attuned to quality of sound. The composers, Henri Sauguet, Ravel, Rossini, Reynaldo Hahn and many others have noted this quality in cats.
Kitten excited by the sounds coming from an old phonograph
In the nineteenth certury, the famous harpist, Mlle Dupuy, felt she owed a fair portion of her success to her cat. When she played a piece her cat was familiar with the cat either purred or cried, according to the quality of her playing. She altered her playing accordingly.
Recognizing how much she owed to her cat, when she died she bequeathed her cat a house in town and another in the country and left a substantial income to several personal friends so they would willing look after her most singular heir.
From my own experience, whenever I used to pick up the guitar my beloved dog would leave the room (and I play fairly well). Canines, unlike felines, hate music, as Jack London has so well demonstrated in his various novels. Our cat, Tiffany, on the other hand, came and sat at my me side, purred and clearly, deeply enjoyed the playing. She became my biggest fan.
Recently I began playing with a Celtic harp and was amazed to watch my orange tabby, Bijou go into what I can only call throes of ecstasy. He melted. He writhed in pleasure and abandon with every stroke I played. I wasn’t even particularly good at the instrument but for him I was some kind of pleasure god.
Yes, cats love music, but make it good music. Try some of the classics. Try Bach and you won’t go wrong. But don’t eschew other quality music in any other genre, so long as the musicianship is good and the melodies harmonious.
Some of the information and the image for this post was taken from “The Life, History and Magic of The Cat”
This may not be what your cat looks like but it may well be how he feels; imperious, in-charge, confident and king.
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