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About / Playback
The hearing range of cats is even greater than that of dogs. Dogs get all the press for their high hearing, but cats win the household pet prize (unless you keep a bat or dolphin in your place). The domestic cat’s hearing range is far above it’s own vocal range; it uses this ability to hunt for some of it’s favorite prey. In the next phase of the development of music for cats we will introduce ultrasound music that should be a bit like sonic catnip.
Kittens love to play with little balls, as do young dogs and humans. A bouncing ball resembles the movement of a bounding animal. Practice catching such a thing is beneficial for predator training. (Put a beach ball in a corral or grazing land of one of the non-predators and it will stay right where it is.) Playing with a ball resembles catching a mouse enough for it to be fun. Listening to ultrasound instrumental versions of mouse songs should perk up the ears and attention of your favorite feline. (Yes, male mice are little troubadours. They sing ultrasound ballads for their potential mates.) A cat will not mistake the music for a mouse any more than it would mistake a ball for a mouse, but it will be very likely to perk up the feline attention.
We are working to produce equipment that will be able to produce ultrasound music as well as feline-appropriate intermittent playback. Since most of the feral occupation of cats is resting and a relatively small percentage of their time is taken with hunting/playing, it will be best to have playback options available. In a 12 hour time period the music could be programmed to play for 2-3 hours total, with a mixture of exciting, uplifting, and calming music. With this equipment a cat that is left alone for a day could have a varied selection of different kinds of music playing intermittently throughout the day.
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