Philadelphia Orchestra director makes classical music playlist for shelter animals

PHILADELPHIA — Turns out, dogs and cats like classical music, and starting this week, a Philadelphia music director will use that knowledge to help homeless animals find their forever homes. The idea is, soothing music makes them more sociable, and thus more likely to be adopted.

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Animals can't talk, but they do communicate. Barking, spinning or laying in their litter box tells animal behavior and enrichment specialist Kayla Dorney, that they're stressed. "It is confinement. With any human or animal in confinement, you're going to be stressed. And animals experience the same thing," Dorney told WCAU. Stressed behavior makes them less attractive to families who want pets.

Since January, the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has helped 710 animals find homes, but there are still over 200 dogs and cats that need to be adopted.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a music director for the Philadelphia Orchestra who also loves animals. His Instagram page regularly features pictures of his kitties. He recently created a classical playlist for the Pennsylvania SPCA. It's 326 songs and runs over 34 hours long. The music will play during the daytime, when people visit the pets.  
   
"People coming in and out of the shelter is really stressful for our cats. It's loud. People are opening and closing the kennel doors," said Dorney.

The staff hopes the music helps to calm the animals down and that it will help the dogs and cats find their forever homes.

NBC/WCAU