Why does whistling have such an impact on cat behaviour?

Question

When i whistle a single note for a long time at my cats, no matter how sulky they are, they will start miaowling and run straight over to me. No other noise has this kind of impact on them. Any idea why they are so affected by whistling? Have you notice this with your cats?

Cheers all, very helpful.

P.s.: little miss literacy => go back to school!

Answer 1

It works for the same reason a dog whistle works. It's the high frequency of whistling. They have a much higher frequency range of hearing than humans do. Try this...if your phone has a normal ringtone (electronic-sounding, not mp3-type thing)...the cat will go crazy over that, too!

Oh, and ignore the first girl with your spelling...Looks like you're not American. You've got the British/Canadian spellings for behavior and meow.

Answer 2

Cat Whistle

Answer 3

Cat Whistle Sound

Answer 4

Aww, poor baby. As an expert on cat behavior, I can tell you that this is not unusual. Right now your cat has been experiencing some pain whenever she goes to the bathroom. As a result, she's associated the litterbox with that pain. Mind you, this is not a conscious thought process...this is just her seeking out different avenues to eliminate the pain. Once the antibiotics do their job and she begins to feel better, the pain will go away and she will be more willing to use the litterbox. In the meantime, you might want to make the litterbox "different" somehow. Move it to a new place, replace all the litter with clean litter. Change the litter type (clay to pine, or clumping to non-clumping, etc.) You can always go back to your normal routine once you are confident that she has returned to health and is consistently using her box. In the meantime, these subtle changes will help her out psycholocially with these litterbox=pain mis-associations. Good luck!

Answer 5

Cats' ears are sometimes sensitive to high notes. For example, if you whistle a high G or beyond, the pitch will affect the cat's eardrums. Good sign, though, if your cat ever gets lost!

Answer 6

A dog should be trained on how to eat, walk with you, not to bark, potty training and sleep on its place etc. You can teach anything to your puppy, dogs get trained easily with some good instructions. If you want some good training tips visit https://tr.im/dupnI

If properly trained, they should also understand whistle and gesture equivalents for all the relevant commands, e.g. short whistle or finger raised sit, long whistle or flat hand lay down, and so on.

It's important that they also get gestures and whistles as voice may not be sufficient over long distances and under certain circumstances.

Answer 7

that's very interesting. i can't whistle so i've never discovered this. I imagine that its because the sound concerns them in addition to it being you making the sound. My cat will come to me at the sound of my voice (not always a good thing) but this doesn't say much because I have an extremely clingy cat (aptly named Static)

ps- I just tried whistling at my cat but he ran away from me. yes!!! NOW i know what to do when I'm trying to sleep and he's being stubborn about leaving me be.

Answer 8

yes. all cats i ever knew or heard of do this. the frequency of your whistle acts like a distress call to them & they come running to a)protect their "kitten" or b) find the injured prey. their motives are open to personal interpretation, but the basic cause is as i've just stated. also, you did actually spell "behaviour" correctly. (check any dictionary & tell little miss literacy to go back to school)

Answer 9

Yes, I have! Your cats really LOVE you when they run to you when they hear your sound. That's a great sign! It shows that if they are lost, all you do is whistle.

Answer 10

My cat Lucy when I whistle she runs over to be and goes to my cheek and gives a little soft bite it is so cute.She is not trying to hurt me..Ya have to see it..