Kittens HATE the piano

[derekthecat]

My hilarious kittens hate the piano so much they dive under the sofa if I play one note - then won't come out for a whole hour. They've been like this since they were born. Anyone know why, or what I can do to change their behaviour? It's really weird!!

I want to play the piano again  

 

[Columbine]

Aww - poor little things :heart3:

The acoustics are amazing in that room - an easy thing to try would be adding in more fabrics on the floor and walls to deaden the sound a little. That might help.

Does the piano have a practice pedal? You could try putting that on to see if that makes a difference to the kittens' reactions.

How much space do you have? Is it possible for them to simply remove themselves? Asha's scared of the vacuum cleaner, so she'll simply go to the other end of the house (and up or downstairs) to get away from it. If there is space for the kittens to get away you could get a yummy treat or snack for them and set them up with it as far away from the piano as possible before you play. Over time they should become desensitised to the sound and just remove themselves if they wish.

Lastly, you could try playing a recording of piano music as softly as possible, gradually increasing the volume over a few weeks until it's the same as the live piano. This slow desensitisation can often work well with scary noises.

Good luck

 

[derekthecat]

Thank you! They have the whole house but they hide under the sofa when they're scared and ironically it's right next to the piano! I might have to wait until they're going outside. Playing recordings is a good idea