PHOTO BY INA JALIL
As we've discussed before, music can excite, agitate, or soothe and calm pets, and it's the relaxing aspect of music that most interests us: can music make your anxious dog calmer during or after the storm, or while you're away? Can the right symphony soothe kitty when too much activity or outside interference makes her skittish? Research says yes, and in fact we've discovered a whole micro-industry of sweet sounds for furry friends, including one online shop that actually sells "pet speakers" for purrfect acoustics. If you search Amazon for "relaxation music" or "calming music" for pets/cats/dogs, you'll discover you have a lot to choose from, but there's really no need to spend a lot of money on pet tunes.
Many experts recommend classical music (this article has some specific recommendations), so you could just mine your music collection for Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi and the like for your furball's relaxed listening pleasure. This independent study [PDF] claims that solo piano with simplified arrangements at 50-70 beats per minute is optimal for calming canine anxiety, and this article says, "dogs appear to be calmed by music with slower tempos, fewer instruments and simpler melodies."
But guess what, you don't even have to bother rifling through your stash of tunes, because in the manic, magical wonderland that is the Internet, guess what I've discovered? Yep, radio stations for pets. For reals.- Dog Radio plays very simple, classical compositions which should please skittish kitties, too. The page operates on auto-start (no controls), and worked for me in Firefox and Internet Explorer, but not Opera.
- Cat Galaxy radio says it plays only cat-approved tunes -- music that the cats of the website owners like, as well as as suggested tunes from other music-loving cats, via their owners. (Article here.) Cats apparently have way more adventurous musical tastes than dogs, according to what I've listened to on this station! :) Cat Galaxy worked for me in FF, IE, and Opera.
- Dog Cat Radio is another station for our furry friends, but it seems stuck on only one song for the moment... perhaps something to check back with later.
There's also an inexpensive Pet Acoustics iPhone app "music for your dog, cat or horse from your iPhone, iPod Touch or other music player" that I have not personally checked out.
