Music & Pets

Do your pets enjoy music? Seren does her lion cough--“ack-ack-ack”--complaining whenever I sit down at the piano, or take out my cello to practice. She doesn’t seem to mind my singing quite so much, and she really enjoys some CDs. Magic howls. Everyone’s a critic. Actually, music has great therapeutic properties. It can cover up unpleasant noises like thunder. And some musical instruments mimic the sounds of other animals and prompt interesting behaviors. For example, stringed instruments (violin comes to mind) may sound like cats in distress (or in heat!) and have your cat yowling in reaction. Vivaldi playing guitar Pleasant music can mask scary noises, or upsetting sounds like a trespassing cat’s meow that put your pet’s tail in a twist. But more than that, the cadence of certain sounds influences the body’s natural rhythms and can speed them up and energize the listener, or slow them down to calm him. Music with a pulse of about 60 beats per minute slows the brain waves so the listener feels more relaxed and peaceful and shifts the consciousness into a more alert state. This rhythm also slows breathing, which calms the mind and improves the metabolism. Even the heart wants to follow the pulse of the music—faster rhythms energize the listener as his heartbeat increases and blood pressure rises, while slower tempos calm. Listening to music releases endorphins—natural painkillers that are produced by the brain—and reduces the levels of “stress hormones” in the blood. Magic checks out some instruments I often recommend therapeutic harp music for stressed pets. It’s also used in human medicine and has been shown to relieve pain that drugs don’t help, soothes emotional upset, and has become of particular help in hospice situations for human patients. One of the pioneers, Susan Raimond, says harp music calms fractious dogs and cats and offers almost a natural sedative effect so that the upset animals become quiet, lay down and go to sleep. Learn more about Raimond’s work at http://www.petpause2000.com/