Can classical music calm your #cat?

Playing the violin relaxes felines - but AC/DC could stress them out, study reveals

• Scientists at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, fitted headphones to cats
• They recorded the cats' breathing and pupil size while undergoing surgery
• The cats were calmer when listening to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings
• When played AC/DC's Thunderstruck, their vital signs showed more stress while pop music like Natalie Imbruglia's Torn gave intermediate results

By Richard Gray for MailOnline

Published: 30 March 2015

According to musical myth, the strings of violins were once made from cat guts.

Yet despite this, it seems that playing your pet a piece of classical violin music may be the best way to make them relax, according to new research. Scientists have found that playing Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings can calm cats and may even help them recover quicker after a visit to the vets.

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The cats were played clips of music through headphones while undergoing surgery, shown above, a heart monitor attached to their tongue measured their pulse and scientists recorded the diameter of their pupils

In a bizarre set of experiments, researchers fitted headphones to cats ears so they could listen to music while undergoing surgery at a veterinary clinic in Portugal.

The scientists played two-minute bursts of classical, pop and rock music to the animals and measured their reaction while under anaesthesia. They found that the classical music - Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings - made the cats more relaxed while Natalie Imbruglia's Torn was slightly less effective. Listening to AC/DC's Thunderstruck appeared to increase the stress levels of the animals.

While listening to music is known to reduce pain and stress in human patients, the study is thought to be the first to show it can also have the same impact in cats.

Dr Miguel Carreira, a veterinary surgeon at the University of Lisbon, Portugal who led the study, said: 'After reading about the influence of music on physiological parameters in humans, I decided to design a study protocol to investigate whether music could have any physiological effects on my surgical patients. 'In the surgical theatres at the faculty where I teach and at the private veterinary medical centre where I spend my time operating, environmental music is always present. 'During consultations I have noticed, for example, that most cats like classical music, particularly George Handel compositions, and become more calm, confident and tolerant throughout the clinical evaluation.'

The researchers played the music to 12 cats while they were undergoing neutering surgery through headphones. They attached a heartbeat monitor to the animals' tongue, measured their respiratory rate and pupil diameter. The cats were exposed to two minutes of silence followed by random clips of music.

The rock music of AC/DC, pictured above, seemed to increase the stress experienced by cats during surgery

When listening to classical music, the cats had a lower respiratory rate and smaller pupil diametre, suggesting they were more relaxed. Previous studies have suggested that cats prefer classical music because it contains tempos and frequencies that match purring for example. 

Dr Carreira and his colleagues suggest that playing classical music during surgery could help make surgery safer and improve an animal's recovery.

Writing in the Journal of Feline Medicine, said: 'Use of certain music genres in the surgical theatre may contribute to a decrease in the anaesthetic dose required, reducing undesirable side effects of anaesthetic agents and thus promoting patient safety.' The researchers now hope to look at how music might impact other animals including dogs.

The strings of a violin were originally thought to have been made from cat's gut, but playing classical violin music (above), such as Adagio for Strings, may also be the best way to calm your pet say the scientists

SCIENTISTS WRITE MUSIC FOR CATS 

Most people will have heard music that sounds a bit like cats fighting - but it turns out that is not far from the kind music our feline pets actually enjoy.

Scientists have created what they say is the first species-specific music for domestic cats by replicating some of the sounds the animals produce themselves.

They say the music could provide new ways for cat owners to enrich the environments that their pets live in while also helping to calm agitated animals.

The cat music has been created by psychologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and musicians at the University of Maryland. 

The music uses rhythms that mimics the pulsating of a cat's purr along with melodies that were similar to their high pitched meows.

In tests against classical human music by composers Johann Sebastian Bach and Gabriel Faure, the cats showed stronger reactions to the feline tunes.

Just like in humans, however, the younger the cat was, the more excited it got about the music - with middle aged cats seeming the least interested. 

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