I’ve been playing this Clarke D whistle as I was waiting for the purchase of better whistles.
Anyway, my cats go wild when I do that! Edgar runs over to me, shakes his fir and ends up giving up a lot of dandruff (which he does when he’s nervous). Then Rocky (his brother) comes over and starts fighting with him, pinning him down. Really weird.
Just wondering if this is common. While playing a low D, they didn’t seem to have this reaction in the lower range.
My current cats, sisters Liz & Eileen, have very different opinions. Eileen appears entirely indifferent to all music, but Liz is a different story.
If I unlimber a regular D whistle (that is, not a low D) and take it up to the second octave, Liz will come and mew piteously and try to rub the whistle. The first octave and the wood concert flute do not prompt the same reaction.
So, if I want to practice, she is exiled upstairs–or I’m exiled outside.
M
When my dog could still hear, he used to get very upset with me when I would play either my whistles or my recorders. I had to go into a separate room! What a critic!
My old cat, Khani, who passed on last year, loved music of all sorts. When I’d play the whistle, she’d come sit on my shoulder and purr. 
Our current cat, Jonah, doesn’t seem to react one way or the other unless I play high B. He’ll often nap on my lap as I practice, but if I hit that B, he’ll give me an offended look and go hide.
Redwolf
The higher frenquencies not only create a sound wave vibration/irritation to the more sensitive hearing in cats, but esp. cats with ear mites. Try a drop of olive oil in their ears, it should soften the effect.
I use my cat to test Irish music, generally. My cat can’t stand Seamus Ennis’s pipes, but doesn’t mind the finer tone of Paddy Keenan’s (CDs). She use to argue relentlessly with me when I play my pipes or c/d whistles, but is better now with the oil. She just flattens out on the rug and goes deep, deep into a healthy state of denial.
My family is fostering 4 foster kittens for the Humane Society. (By the way, we’re still looking for homes for them-anyone in the Sarasota/St. Pete/Tampa area interested?
Hmph! I don’t have cats, or dogs, but I DO have children – ages 4 and 2. I’ve got a Walton’s D and when I pick it up, my daughter (the 4-year-old) walks over with her hands on her ears and says, “Daddy, please stop making that noise!”
As I’m typing this, though, an interesting thought has occurred to me. Neither of my kids seems to mind when I play my Clarke Sweetone. Okay … gotta check it out. Hold on…
Yep. They’re in the same key, but the Walton seems shriller. … Hmmmmmmmm. Hey, my Sweetone was only $5.80. That might be an inexpensive solution…
Learning the whistle has taught me dogs have taste. I spent this Christmas with my parents, when I played the dog had no problem but when my mom tried to play the dog went nuts. Recently we got a piano and my dogs don’t mind at all when my wife plays (I don’t play) but when I was cleaning the keys today (which makes an awful racket) my dogs went nuts. Can dogs really differentiate between well played music and noise from an instrument? Mine shuer seem to be able to.
With our two dogs, the elder, Kira, ignores the whistles totally. Ezri, on the other hand, likes them. Doesn’t matter which one - she likes sitting at my feet and listening to them. She does bump the bottom of the whistle from time to time as she checks them out. She REALLY finds the Chieftain F that I got from Loren interesting… had to smell that one several times over.
The Singapore Slow Sessions Group actually had a “cat” experience last Saturday afternoon when we met. We were meeting in a friend’s flat. There were 2 flute players, 2 whistlers, a bodhran player, and ta-da! the 3rd whistler who just got his uilleann pipes (likely to be the one and only set in this country). The host kept his front door open for better ventilation and breeze. This bedraggled tiny stray kitten got really interested in the music and kept coming in no matter how many times we carried it out again. We finally closed the door. Many hours later [we had dinner together, coffee, chatted ,etc] when we opened the door to leave, we found the kitten still outside, resting on our shoes and waiting for us. Of couRse it tried to enter the flat again. We had to carry it downstairs to release it in the carpark.
I have two cats and they both have the same reaction to the Whistle. They give me a look of extreme pity and disgust…then walk slowly from the room as if they are deeply offended.
edited to fix smilie
[ This Message was edited by: snoogie on 2003-01-10 05:53 ]
Our cat Jacques is over 15 years now and loves (besides bagpipes or schalmei-kind of sounds) accoustic instrument playing. In rehearsals he chooses the best position between us four and sits there and listens, eyes closed and ears moving all over the place to catch the sound. Didge he kind of “competes” with, as in lying usually in front of the instrument’s bell end and purring away. My sister’s cat though brought a funny story to us. Her husband practiced trumpet for a while for a special performance after not playing for many years and with a silencer in it. They had to lock Lisa (the cat) out of the house in the end as whenever he started practicing she came running from where ever she just had been, jumping at his legs and physically attacking and biting him 
Brigitte
P.S. We heard the performance and fully understand why the cat had been doing this 
edited to add P.S. and typo corrections
[ This Message was edited by: Goldie on 2003-01-10 08:16 ]