Cats prefer a melodious human voice. I don't know of any science that supports this, just my own experience. By "melodious" I mean a voice that is agreeable to listen to. Or tuneful. Some people have more melodious voices than other people. One person with a naturally melodious voice is the Presidential candidate, Barack Obama.
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| Photo by Dr Saito in a study about cats' response to the human voice. |
His voice is more melodious than that of McCain and that is why cats will probably vote for Barack!
Seriously though, cats will respond better to a quiet, pleasant and melodious tone to our voice. A cat will get used to the sound of it and respond to it. Cats respond badly to harsh sounds and yelling for instance. Harsh sounds denote aggression and hostility perhaps even the sounds of predators.
If we are then nice to our cat and provide decent food, warmth and some combing etc. our cat will associated our melodious voice with pleasure and a better bond is forged.
If we do not have a melodious voice and mine is not particularly fantastic, I simply lower it and make it quieter.
There is no doubt that cats prefer a melodious human voice. This shouldn't be surprising as after all we prefer people with a pleasant voice. The tone of a voice counts a lot in the human world. A voice that is authoritative will be useful in business and politics, for example. Barack Obama's voice is both melodious and authoritative.
He backs this up with a good intellect and common sense. A potent mix in politics.
If I want someone to do something for me I ask nicely with a quiet voice. That works better than the more forceful approach (although sometimes the forceful way is the only way!).
Obviously cats are not going to listen to the political rhetoric and the sound arguments but they will respond better to a sweet melodious voice backed up by tender loving care - don't we all? Try it and you'll see that cats prefer a melodious human voice. And that also means that they don't like a household where there is undue argument between people or other aggressive noises like building work, hammering etc.
Some cats are more tolerant than other though.
Could not agree more. I believe sound is everything to a cat. From what I've seen, they interpret yelling and raised voices as a threat to themselves, making no distinction as to the object of the yelling.
ReplyDeleteThey also seem averse to television programming with guns, sirens, explosions, etc. ps this is the best cat website I've ever seen!