“In a world of peace and love, music would be the universal language.” Henry David Thoreau

Do you hate leaving your fur-children alone? Do you have to lock them up so they don’t destroy things? Do they seem anxious? Dr. Charles Snowdon of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has created the perfect music for your cat. It’s called “meowsic” (I call it “mewsic”) and the songs consist of sounds your cat would find calming like suckling sounds, purring, birds, etc. You can listen to samples here.

“But what about other animals?”, you ask. Music for animals is not a new concept, but this discovery for cats could spawn music studies for other types of animals. Let’s look at the benefits of one case:

Shelters & Kennels

Shelters and kennels are stressful for both humans and animals. Of course, we don’t have to spend time there if we don’t want to. If you’ve ever been to one of these places you know that when you enter you will probably be greeted with intense barking.

The San Francisco Animal Care and Control (ACC for short) had a big problem with barking dogs at their facility. Their animals were constantly stressed out by the incessant barking, something had to be done.

The ACC joined up with the program, Through a Dog’s Ear and its creators Joshua Leeds (Psychoacoustics Researcher) and Lisa Spector (Musician) to fix their problem. The program provides researched and tested CDs that calm the animals. The result?

• Dogs are spending more time relaxing instead of shaking all the time
• Less barking= less stress for all of the other
• Over 70% of both cats and dogs are less anxious

Going forward I would love to see more shelters and kennels do this for their animals. It’s beneficial for them in so many ways and especially when it comes to finding a forever home.

Check out the video below to see the music work it’s magic.