DOG OR CAT--which one has better taste for music?

[Wallingford]

Beings dogs/cats is a hot topic on this board, I thought I'd add a question I've actually been meaning to ask for ages.

Dogs just seem pained at it: I, as well as many others, can vouch from personal experience while practicing that our pets just howl at it.

On the other hand, cats seem intrigued, or it simply gives them pause to notice, or even become entranced or fascinated by it. A dear deceased friend from whom I always purchased classical vinyl, had a Russian blue who seemed to like Wagner, or any bass opera singer. And the pet magazines, like Cat Fancy, tell of numerous instances of their felines pausing to listen to a country/bluegrass band or something or other.

What's your view?

[Corlyss_D]

None of my present critters seems to give a flying fig for any of it. On, off, they sleep thru the day no matter what.

Now my late and much lamented little miniature poodle, Guy, adored Mozart. He perked up for his music as for no other.

[Ralph]

Let's not generalize or be specieist. In my case, my female cat, Kimmy, loves music especially Mahler while the male, Tassel, leans towards lieder. Both are, naturally, Dittersdorfians.

Most intelligent dogs whom I have known were music lovers.

[jbuck919]

Most intelligent dogs whom I have known were music lovers.

I didn't know you went back as far as Wagner.

[Teresa B]

My poodle Chili never fails to recline beneath the piano when I play Mozart, Beethoven and Debussy.

Teresa

[paulb]

Now my late and much lamented little miniature poodle, Guy, adored Mozart. He perked up for his music as for no other.

My 3 cats seem to prefer Mozart as their fav. . And they also don't like the stereo loud.
Music that has too much gigantic cresendos, they can''t stand. Like in some of Beethoven's syms with all its build ups into a monsterous roar. That really upsets them.

[Ralph]

It's been proven that many dogs do respond to music. Cats not so sure.

[living_stradivarius]

Cat's tend to find violins annoying. Who ever came up with "the cat and the fiddle?"

[Ralph]

Cat's tend to find violins annoying. Who ever came up with "the cat and the fiddle?"

*****

I only have to hold up Anne-Sophie Mutter's latest CD for Tassel to roll over on his back in preparation for enjoying her music. All cats ain't alike.

[Susan L]

I'm not sure about music, but I understand many cats are profoundly disturbed by doggerels. Canines, however, find them hilarious. Especially labs and golden retrievers.

[Ralph]

I'm not sure about music, but I understand many cats are profoundly disturbed by doggerels. Canines, however, find them hilarious. Especially labs and golden retrievers.

*****

Intellectual canines devour dog-eared books.

[mourningstar]

if you ask me, ... Cats would love to hear "rossini's chats aria" i have one recording from Elizabeth Schwarzkopf.. ( i don't recall the exact name of the aria)

well,.. my cats don't find violins THAT annoying. i mean .. mine don't mind "stoshtakovich - russian waltz "

[jbuck919]

I wonder if anyone else remembers a clip of Lou Costello singing Toura-Loura-Loura with a dog. It was on an Abbott and Costello retrospective video I watched once when visiting my sister, and it was not a rehearsed act (sure enough, it cracked up Costello). The very next thing that happened, and I'm not making this up, was that the neighbor's dog, a frequent visitor, showed up and I tried it with him. Sure enough, sang right along.

[Ralph]

I wonder if anyone else remembers a clip of Lou Costello singing Toura-Loura-Loura with a dog. It was on an Abbott and Costello retrospective video I watched once when visiting my sister, and it was not a rehearsed act (sure enough, it cracked up Costello). The very next thing that happened, and I'm not making this up, was that the neighbor's dog, a frequent visitor, showed up and I tried it with him. Sure enough, sang right along.

*****

Irish Setters love that song.

[Wallingford]

Longtime writer on animals & pioneering animal-rights activist CLEVELAND AMORY (died in 1998) wrote a massive tome called The Compleat Cat (actually comprising his three bestsellers The Cat Who Came For Christmas, The Cat And The Curmudgeon, and The Best Cat Ever). In it Amory tells, without any apparent embarrassment, of how he became a cat lover in his fifties, having till then been a faithful dog-only man. He tells of his travails with an exceptionally independent white cat he named "Polar Bear" (yecch.....I'd sue).

Anyway, in addition to being TV Guide's longtime critic (he took some ofttimes-deserved abuse for it), he hadn't much of a taste for music, preferring strictly C&W.......he claimed that "Polar Bear" preferred Patsy Cline, just like he did.

[Agnes Selby]

Beings dogs/cats is a hot topic on this board, I thought I'd add a question I've actually been meaning to ask for ages.

Dogs just seem pained at it: I, as well as many others, can vouch from personal experience while practicing that our pets just howl at it.

On the other hand, cats seem intrigued, or it simply gives them pause to notice, or even become entranced or fascinated by it. A dear deceased friend from whom I always purchased classical vinyl, had a Russian blue who seemed to like Wagner, or any bass opera singer. And the pet magazines, like Cat Fancy, tell of numerous instances of their felines pausing to listen to a country/bluegrass band or something or other.

What's your view?

-----------

We had a cat by the imaginative name of "***". *** loved Bartok.
She would stretch herself under the piano and work her tail like
a metronome to Bartok's music. She particularly loved the Rumanian dances. When my daughter, then still a little girl, made a mistake, *** would get agitated. She also enjoyed Beethoven and Schubert.

*** died at the age of 16 years a month before we moved to the
United States. She was our "baby" before the children were born
and considered our daughter Kathy as her very own baby. We still miss her after these many years.

Our dog, Hobo, had no interest in music whatsoever. His only interest was food.

Regards,
Agnes.

[Agnes Selby]

I do not know why the name of our cat did not register.

I will write to Corlyss and supply the name in a private letter.

Regards,
Agnes.
-----------------

[david johnson]

: DOG OR CAT--which one has better taste for music?

depends on what you're listening to...
dog chili is great with rafael mendez recordings.
smoked cat shreds are exciting with the soundtrack to 'blackhawk down'.

dj

[Susan L]

Many dogs do seem to appreciate opera, particularly the barcarolle from Tales of Hoffman.

How interesting that so many felines seem fond of Mozart! I would have guessed, Khachaturian.

(Sorry - that last one IS a bit of a stretch...)

[DavidRoss]

I cannot recall having a dog who cared much for music, though most I've known will howl at the piano or song or especially the saxophone. On the other hand, our cat seems to enjoy almost anything that isn't too loud, frenetic, or dissonant. She's been known to walk up to a floorstanding speaker while music is playing, rooster her head at it, then curl up on the carpet in front of it. And she's been known to shoot me an offended look over her shoulder as she bolts from the room after I've changed CDs to play something not to her taste.