Yelping to a different pitch

Pets perceive sound differently from us and a constantly noisy atmosphere may be traumatic for them.

The quirky side of our pets swells up our hearts and eyes long after they are gone. Ramana, our Indie dog, joined the orchestra with his ‘singing’ (howling, ahem) each time we amateurishly played the harmonica. His divertimento sure won him our praise, and we performed on a loop, driving my mom to her wits end! One day, she decided to stop this craziness by hiding the prized harmonica. When we found it again, Ramana had crossed the rainbow bridge, giving us a glimpse of his Elvis Presley avatar. While none of our other pets had the same talent, viral videos on social media suggest that it’s not super hard to find!

Music has a special place in the human world and is a billion-dollar industry for a reason. It is known to reduce our anxiety, relieve pain and decrease stress. Every daily drag, be it yoga, driving, work or study, has a playlist created by someone. Many make a fortune by creating euphonies with a devoted fan following. Specialty music, supposedly composed to calm pets, has now entered the scene with a bang. Audio streaming platforms have ‘pet music’ playlists for you and your furry companion. What’s better than sipping a glass of wine while snuggling with Fido, with Beethoven setting the mood? This rosy picture could break if we take a closer look at our pets’ opinion of our music. Here’s why.

Processing sound

Thanks to our anatomy and evolutionary histories, humans, cats, and dogs hear sounds differently. While cats and dogs can dig up rodents lurking in the ground by hearing their screech, we can barely hear the rustling of leaves. Humans perceive sounds with a pitch between 20-20,000 hertz, while dogs hear twice as many high-pitched sounds up to 45,000 hertz. When Pippi tilts his head (and looks irresistibly cute) when his toy squeaks, he tries to hear the high-pitched sound that I can’t. Cats are at the top spot here — extremely high-pitched noises up to 79,000 hertz are audible to them! Cats and dogs have dedicated muscles in their ears to align them in a sound’s direction.

Do our pets then perceive our music as we do? Perhaps yes; all mammals process sound in the brain’s outer layer, called the cerebral cortex. Studies have shown that music can have a calming effect on animals. There’s some evidence of the ‘Mozart effect’ in young rats, which experienced better brain functions after listening to a Mozart symphony. When kennelled dogs in a shelter listened to Vivaldi’s and Bach’s compositions, they barked less. They were also more relaxed than when they heard pop music or heavy metal. Yet another study showed audiobooks calmed dogs better than any music. Well, that probably explains why Pippi snores to glory when I attend Zoom meetings!

On the other hand, cats don’t appear pleased with music made for mortal humans. According to science, they prefer ‘species-appropriate’ music with pitches, tones, and tempos familiar to their species. Now, musicians and veterinarians are creating songs that please feline royalty. While we wait for the cat (music) to be out of the bag, one could try cat TV channels that show hours of squirrels running around and birds chirping! They seem to have a loyal viewership that similar doggy channels don’t!

The daily stressors

A noisy atmosphere undoubtedly stresses our pets and can be traumatic for them. Our Rinky went bonkers hearing our milkman’s jangling bicycle. Fireworks terrified Belli, and she trembled like a leaf for days. When revving motorcycles or trucks zip past Pippi, he lunges and barks out of horror. Yet, the dogs and cats who live on the streets seem to cope better. I think their success lies in the fact that they can choose how to escape the sound; they climb a tree or lie in the gutter without a care in the world (well, mostly).

But, our pets can’t do that. They are forced to live in our rackety homes. The constant clatter of vacuum cleaners, washing machines, refrigerators, TV, radio, our chitter-chatter and kids’ scream is no music to their sensitive ears. Acknowledging our loud surroundings, acting on them, and giving our pets choices to escape the din can alleviate much of their (and our) stress. Think of your furry companion before you bang the door or turn up the volume to dance your way into the new year!

Tailspin is your monthly column on everything that’s heartwarming and annoying about pet parenting.

The writer is a science communicator and mom to Pippi, a five-year-old rescued Indie, who is behind her drive to understand dogs better. She tweets @RamanSpoorthy