I just had an addition to my household- and this 5 month old cat flees whenever I play my low D. (It doesn’t seem to have a problem with my Generation high Eb).
Has anyone ever had problems mixing whistles and cats? Am I traumatizing mine? Why the low D and not the high? And finally, what should I name this cat? 
How about Lowdie?
Mmmm… I like cats! They taste like chicken 
I’ve got the opposite problem - my cat doesn’t mind the low whistle but flees when I play a higher one. I wouldn’t worry about traumatizing it - the cat will probably traumatize you once or twice too! The cat will find a safe hiding place away from what bothers it.
Just keep it away from Walton’s Little Blacks - mine still bears the scars (the whistle, not the cat).
As far as a name, I wanted something Irish for mine so I named her Ceili - it’s a two syllable name with a hard consonant at the beginning that pet experts say are best, and you have great fun at the vets’ office trying to get them to pronounce it right!
Enjoy your pet!
Beth
Like Beth, my D whistles have scars on them and if I wasn’t wearing jeans once my leg would have been shredded.
Cats don’t like high pitch noises, and my cat “Clancy” has the weight to make you pay attention. Clancy weighs roughly 25 pounds. And he isn’t really fat. JUST BIG!!!
He is my constant companion when I am on this board, he lays right beside me on the ottoman within a short arms reach, as he is now.
Clancy doesn’t leave the room when I practice the flute, the low whistles, or the bodhran. But if I pick up a high D whistle, within three notes at the low end, forget about the high notes; I get serious running body charges right into the leg.
He then backs off and howls, screams to drown me out, next is the attack. And it is a full body frontal attack right over the coffee table launching himself like a missle.
I really have to persist if I want to practice, driving him into the bedroom with a look of absolute discuss on his face.
I have tried going into the bedroom and shutting the door. That doesn’t work, cats have the ultimate right of freedom of movement and expression, that no constitution can give anybody else or thing.
So I suggest that you wear protective clothing, ear plugs to drown out the screams of annoyance, and remember that a cat has the right of intimate domain, regardless of what room in your house you play in. Its “their” house and you are only tolerated.
Mark
Our cats seem to like the high whistles, and take no notice of the lows. When I play the sopranos, they occasionally will hop up into my lap and begin chin-marking the whistle while I’m playing!
Charlie
Our cats seem to like the high whistles, and take no notice of the lows. When I play the sopranos, they occasionally will hop up into my lap and begin chin-marking the whistle while I’m playing!
Charlie
When I play my high D Teddy, my cat, used to jump up on the back of my chair and start nibbling the back of my neck. I think he was getting the wrong impression and thought I was playing love songs just for him. Now he pretty much ignores me. It kinda has the same effect on my husband.
[ This Message was edited by: dakotamouse on 2001-10-21 15:04 ]
My pet rat, Crunchy (may he rest in peace) used to shuffle around the cedar chips in his cage when I would play. Whether he was getting playful with pleasure or trying to burrow away from the awful noise was never determined. When I played with him sitting on my lap, he seemed to ignore it.
Oh, and I’ve always thought “Bodhran” would be a cool name for a pet…
Tom
I always choose go-to whistles based on my cats’ responses. They love the Abell and the Rose. They are not crazy about Copelands or O’Riordans.
Jessie
My cat Dulcie will come into the room while I am playing and meow. At first I didn’t know whether she was telling me to stop or just trying to sing along. I assume that she doesn’t mind, because on occasion she will go to sleep while I am playing and meow while she is sleeping. She will do the same thing when I am playing the piano, so I think that she likes music.
We have two cats. One of them doesn’t care one way or the other when I practice, the other bolts out of the room as soon as I move into the second octave.
Sarah
I think you should name the cat Finbar, unless it reacts very violently to your playing the Low D, in which case you should name it Furey.
The reason being, of course, that we have to thank Finbar Furey for the Low D. According to whistle folklore he commissioned the first Low D from Bernard Overton in the seventies.
Hm… I’m alergic to cats (alas!), but it seems to me there would be a unique market for “Whistle Loving” cats. Maybe those of you with whistle lovers could breed them to determine if the trait could be passed on! You could even sell kittens bundled with a Sweetone or Generation! I even bet Thom at the Whistle Shop would carry them… dare I suggest “Thom” cats?..
Hey everybody,
We have a cat but it is an outdoor cat so I wouldn’t know…But for what it’s worth our dog loves music. She’s been hearing it since she was about 8(?) months old. Any time we start to play she will come in and sit by our feet. I know this has nothing to do with cats but oh well! Bye!
Brent
On 2001-10-22 14:38, curioso wrote:
dare I suggest “Thom” cats?..
me-ouch!
When my boyfriend and I were first getting to know each other, he was painfully shy, and his cat, Pest, seemed to be in competition with him for my heart. When I played my flute for the first time in front of them, Pest rolled around on the floor at my feet, yowled, jumped into my lap, and began chin-marking my flute so furiously he knocked it away from my mouth. It was the first time Paul and I really had a laugh together, and “things” progressed very quickly after that. Pest still tries to crawl into my mouth whenever I play flute or whistle. Paul and I live together now with three other cats, and none of them seem to be affected at all except for an occasional ear twitch.
Lisa
I gave the cat a good Irish name: Olaf.