I sing badly, but...

After 10 years of singing to my hard-core feral, it is finally
coming out to me.

Also... Singing works with strays. You can see them relax
immediately when you start singing to them.

Not talking about a ballad, just a few words repeated over and
over again. Monotone, does not matter, it visibly and instantly
relaxes them.

Maybe some people can do that by simply talking, but singing
works wonders for me.

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Boswell would dance to whistling. His favorite tune - especially if played on a penny-whistle was the British Grenadiers's March.

This goes back a few years:

Boswell, our Maine Coon has at the very least saved health and
property. He will dance if you whistle to him, and has done so since a
kitten. He also seeks out such noises (or is attracted to them,
depending on your point of view), and will make a great deal of fuss if
he finds such, including demanding that you follow him to it. When we
were in Saudi, one of the residents had a habit of burning scented
candles on those evenings when her husband got back from his
travels.... after which the inevitable would follow. One evening,
Boswell came running into our villa practically howling, then back out
(cat door), then in, back out. We went out after him and followed him
down the block (about 200 yards) to this woman's villa... we heard the
smoke alarm. We called and woke/diverted them. They got up to discover
that their living room coffee table was in flames, but got it out
before it spread to the couch and curtains... and perhaps them.

We lost Boswell at 16 due to cancer. But he was an all-around cat's cat with a very soft place in his heart for children and babies. He would allow all sorts of indignities with such, but once gave a well-warned individual some 30 stitches for trying to
do what Boswell would let any small child do with impunity.

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