cats respond to whistling?

Factual Questions
1

I have noticed over time that many of my cats (10+) are more responsive to whistling than to calling, snapping fingers, clicking noises a la calling a dog or horse, singing (for which some of them also have a preference) or shaking a box of cat food.

Although many of my cats have appreciated hearing the “here, kitty kitty” song whistled, a significant number of them go wild for waltzes, in particular “The Blue Danube.” They’ll get up from a sound sleep by the fire and stumble to wherever I am. I haven’t reinforced this with food or extra attention.

Any ideas why this is happening? Random cat perversity? Something about the tempo or notes in “The Blue Danube”? Something about the timbre of whistling versus other ways of communicating with cats? Believe me, I’ve worked a lot harder to get them to come when I snap my fingers, but being cats, they are contrary.

2

My cat is a dog. He comes when I call, heels, walks on a leash, and sometimes fetches. He definitely comes when I whistle, the same way I’d whistle for a REAL dog.

3

My cat comes to me when I make any noise that seems to be encouraging. Usually snapping my fingers or hitting my hand against my thigh.

Then again, my cat has always used a scratching post and left my furniture alone and I never once had to train her to do so.

4

According to the radio show Calling All Pets, all cats respond to a trilling sound (prrrrrt or mrrrrrt) with a rolling “R” and a rising pitch. It mimics the sound mama cats use to call kittens to food. As for whistling, it sounds like birds, which are also food.

5

I’ve always whistled to call Spud for his food. I thought he just associated the two together now. But he does come a’runnin.

6

Try with cats in different raising situations. I’ve raised several cats, but the name is the only way I’ve ever call them. My grandmother’s cat comes when she whistles, as that’s when she’s fed. But my cats just perk up their ears when I whistle and then ignore it.

Cats are much harder to train than dogs. It’s not that they’re stupider - they’re less plastic, presumably because they have not been bred for use as hunt-assisters. The big ones are likely to hurt humans (we all know cats have varied personalities and some don’t mind scratching for no good reason) and the small ones are useful mainly for rodents.