BARK SIDE OF THE MOON

When British entrepreneur Amman Ahmed launched streaming service Music for Pets to soothe stressed-out dogs and cats, he had to fund every penny himself. Eight years on, he has a major record deal, 50 million listeners and even Grammy Award-winning producers writing tracks

- By Rob Waugh

MUSIC created specifically for animals? While the idea may sound barking mad, it's not only real - it's proven to be a hit. Streaming service Music for Pets has amassed a following of 50 million four-legged listeners worldwide, with tracks created for dogs, cats, and even hamsters and guinea pigs.

The Manchester-based company, described as "the Netflix for pets" or "Petflix", recently produced an album for dogs with the help of four Grammy Award-winning (human) musicians, designed for owners to listen to along with their four-legged friends.

Founder Amman Ahmed says it's all about tapping into the different tastes of different species; dogs tend to prefer reggae music, cats enjoy classical sounds, while hamsters like to unwind with low-fi hip hop beats - yes, really!

Amman and his team started creating music for dogs in 2017 after initially planning to create relaxation music for humans. While the company aimed initially for slow, steady growth, it was clear they had tapped into something that resonated both with people, and animals.

He says: "We would get really emotional messages where people would say, 'Look, we tried everything for my dog's anxiety. And then we stumbled across this music and it was the only thing that helped.'

"At first I thought it was a joke but it kept happening. We received emails saying, 'My dog has passed away - can we use this song at the funeral? It was their favourite track.'

Amman says that he has had "hundreds of thousands" of messages with positive feedback about the effect on people's dogs and cats.

"Sometimes you just sit back and take a breath and say, 'Wow'," he says.