You can find a lot of music playlists for dogs and cats on the internet. But do they really help animals relax?
When BBC photo editor Serenity Strull picked up her dog Margo from the shelter, she immediately realised the three-year-old pit bull terrier was suffering from anxiety.
“The shelter said Margo was shy and kind with the kids, but nervous and insecure around other dogs,” Strull says.
Margo was given a sedative, Prozac, but it caused her to have seizures, so it was discontinued.
As soon as Strull brought Margo home, she immediately realised that the biggest trigger for the dog was being left alone.
Strull consulted with various trainers and doctors and tried several different methods of sedation, but to no avail. In the end, one thing that worked was losing the fr.
Earlier, when the dog was home alone, neighbours would complain about her barking. But now Margot sleeps peacefully to Brahms or Beethoven and doesn’t run nervously around the house.
“There were times when I would come back after 4am and she would sleep peacefully.”
In one study, researchers came to similar conclusions.
In one, researchers observed how dogs in enclosures and dogs in private homes were affected by three types of sounds: classical music, audiobooks and silence (control group).
After carefully observing behavioural changes, the researchers concluded that classical music had a marked calming effect in “acute stressful situations” such as a visit to the vet or a long car ride.
However, not all styles of classical music are effective. Simple, low tempo compositions (50-60 Reducing stress improved their appetite, sleep, immunity and fertility.
Photo provided by: Madeleine Jett
Animals and humans hear sounds differently. Dogs’ hearing range is about three times that of humans (up to 65,000 Hz), so they can hear higher frequencies and sounds much further away than the average human. ear.
Cats can pick up even higher frequencies (up to 79,000 Hz), so a car horn outside or even the rustle of tinfoil can make them run to the closet.
There have been few studies on whether music calms cats, but one has confirmed the link.
Researchers put headphones on 12 cats while they were under anaesthesia. The animals were given the following tracks: Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn and AC/DC’s Thunderstruck.
The quads that listened to classical music had the lowest heart rates and the most dilated pupils (all three measures of sedation).
Classical music isn’t the only genre that can calm pets.
Reggae and soft rock with simple rhythms, slower tempos and lack of heavy percussion also help relax shelter dogs.
Another study involving 35 cats in a hospital found that instrumental music also reduced their breathing rate if it didn’t contain very high or low frequencies (like piano, flute and
Audiobooks can also soothe pets, especially if the narrator has a soft pleasant voice, but this theory doesn’t work in practice
In a 2022 study, scientists compared the effects of classical music and audiobooks in the absence of their owners. It was found that audiobooks had little to no calming effect
Instead of sitting or lying down, as they did while listening to music, most of the animals simply stared at the speaker playing the audiobook.
Photo provided by: Madeleine Jett
While numerous studies confirm the calming power of classical music. that doesn’t mean it will affect every dog, cat, or elephant.
The studies conducted tend to be small in scale, short in duration, and mostly focused on shelters or hospitals, which are particularly stressful environments.
Another key point of research is the number of subcategories in classical or instrumental music and how these variations can significantly affect the effect of the music.
When sound behaviourist and composer Janet Marlow noticed this in her pets, she began creating music to calm them, and later, “I began creating and testing music specifically tailored to the auditory biology of dogs, cats and other species,” she says
. This personalised approach allowed her to “adjust the tempo and harmony so that the sound sounds pleasing.” that will suit your pet .
. But given Margo’s experience, the right soothing sounds can make all the difference.