Are pets sensitive to good music?

Question

I was wondering, as a cat owner, if pets are sensitive to the music we listen to and to what extent?

I noticed more than once that when listening to music on a computer with speakers, my cat approached and stayed close to the speakers. Then I was wondering if it was a coincidence or if he could enjoy what I listen as well as I do. Does he has preferences for some music genres? Can he hate some? Can he recognize some songs? Is it innate or does it have to be "trained"?

I was wondering about pets in general, but if it's too broad for this site, you can focus on dogs and cats, or even only on cats.

Answer 1

As fun an idea as this is cats aren't really in to music, at least not human music although some early research suggests that music more tailored to cat senses is appealing to them.

Human music is generally too loud and bass-y for cats to enjoy, and part of what appeals to humans in music is the tempo being similar to human heart beats. Cat hearing operates in different ranges to ours, and is much more sensitive.

There's some good info here https://www.purina.co.uk/cats/behaviour-and-training/understanding-cat-behaviour/do-cats-like-music

Answer 2

While it's hard to tell what exactly is going through any animal's head, there is in fact some evidence that parrots have some understanding of music and rhythm. On the internet, you can of course find various videos of various animals apparently "dancing" to the beat of music, including many of "dancing" parrots.

Video of a parrot "dancing" to a recording of the Backstreet Boys

As a result of these sorts of videos, there has been some amount of research into whether these movements are coincidental, or if the parrot has some understanding of the music. The answer seems to be that even parrots don't hit the beat most of the time, but they do enough for it to seem like more than coincidence, as compared to other animals claimed to be "dancing" in various videos.