Why Do Cats React To Combs?

Have you ever run your thumb across the teeth of a comb or crinkled a piece of foil and watched your cat react? Some cats twitch, stare, lick their lips, gag or even retch.

Why do cats react to combs? Cats have extremely sensitive hearing, especially for high-pitched sounds, which helps them hunt small prey such as mice. The sharp, high-frequency sound of a comb's teeth grabs their attention.

Some cats gag or retch at the sound, though why that happens hasn't been well studied. In older cats, sudden twitches at noises like this can be a sign of a seizure disorder called FARS.

Below, we look at why cats are so sensitive to sound, which sounds can trigger a medical problem and which sounds cats like and dislike.

Reasons Why Cats React To The Sound Of Combs

Cats rely on hearing to hunt. Their ears are tuned to pick up the faint, high-pitched rustles and squeaks of small prey and the sounds of predators nearby.

The sound of a comb being strummed is sharp, high-pitched and sudden, which is exactly the kind of sound cats notice. Many cats just look up or seem bothered.

Some cats gag, lick their lips or retch. Owners have shared many videos of this, but there is little research on why it happens, so be wary of confident explanations online.

What Are The Other Sounds Cats React To?

For most cats, reacting to sharp sounds is harmless. In some older cats, though, certain high-pitched sounds trigger seizures.

This condition is called feline audiogenic reflex seizures (FARS). According to International Cat Care, common trigger sounds include:

• Crinkling tin foil
• A metal spoon clanging in a ceramic feeding bowl
• Chinking or tapping of glass
• Crinkling of paper or plastic bags
• Tapping on a computer keyboard or clicking a mouse

Seizures can range from brief muscle jerks to full seizures with collapse. International Cat Care says cats in the FARS study typically developed the condition from around 15 years of age, and about half were also deaf or partly deaf.

If your cat twitches, jerks or collapses in response to sounds, talk to your vet. Avoiding trigger sounds helps, and some cats need medication.

What Sounds Do Cats Like?

Because cats are so sensitive to sound, it's worth paying attention to what they hear at home. Here are sounds many cats enjoy.

Music

Cats may enjoy music made for cats. A 2015 study in Applied Animal Behaviour Science found that cats responded more to "species-appropriate" music, composed with frequencies and tempos similar to cat vocalizations and purring, than to human music.

Cats in the study were more likely to move toward the speaker and rub against it when the cat music played.

Toy Sounds

Play lets cats practice hunting skills and use their natural instincts. Many cats are especially interested in toys that rustle, squeak or rattle like small prey.

Sound Of Their Food

Many cats come running at the sound of a dry food container being shaken or a can being opened. They learn to link the sound with mealtime.

Shaking the food container can be a handy way to call your cat indoors.

What Sounds Do Cats Dislike?

Many cats are frightened by sudden, loud or unfamiliar sounds.

Electronics And Appliances

Cats can hear high-pitched sounds that humans can't. Some electronics and appliances give off high-frequency noise, which may bother some cats.

If your cat avoids a particular room or device, consider whether a sound you can't hear might be the reason.

Hissing Sounds

Cats hiss when they feel threatened, to warn off another animal or person. A mother cat may hiss at an animal approaching her kittens, and a cat in pain may hiss to keep others away.

Sounds that resemble a hiss, such as an aerosol spray, a rustling windbreaker or a plastic bag, can make some cats nervous.

Loud Noises Like Thunder

Loud sounds such as thunder, fireworks, smoke alarms, sirens, loud vehicles and vacuum cleaners frighten many cats.

Cats, like people, have a protective reflex in which tiny muscles in the middle ear contract in response to loud sounds. That reflex can't react fast enough to protect the ear from very sudden noises like fireworks.

Give your cat a quiet hiding place during storms and fireworks, and keep it indoors.

How Sensitive Is The Hearing Of Cats?

Cats have one of the broadest hearing ranges of any mammal. According to the Royal Canin Foundation, cats can hear from about 48 Hz to 85 kHz. Humans hear up to roughly 20 kHz at best.

The same source says a healthy cat can pinpoint where a sound is coming from to within about 3 inches at a distance of 3 feet. That precision helps cats locate prey hidden in grass or under leaves.

Conclusion

Cats react to combs because their hearing is extremely sensitive to sharp, high-pitched sounds. For most cats, the reaction is harmless.

If your cat, especially an older one, twitches, jerks or has seizures in response to certain sounds, see your vet, since this may be FARS.

Further reading: icatcare.org, treehugger.com

Sources

• Feline Audiogenic Reflex Seizures (FARS), International Cat Care
• Cats Have an Exceptional Sense of Hearing, Royal Canin Foundation