What Colors Can Cats See?

As your cat explores the garden or stares at you from across the room in anticipation of a tasty treat, you might be wondering, what colors can cats see? Do they see the world in black and white or in brilliant technicolor like we do? Understanding how your cat's vision works will help you see the world through their eyes.

What colors can cats see?

Cats can see color, but they can't see as many different hues as humans. Due to the structure of cat eyes, it is thought that the colors cats can see best are blue and yellow, while red and green appear gray to them, similar to people with red-green color blindness. Since cats cannot see all colors, they rely more on brightness and movement when observing the world around them.

How do cats see color?

Just like the human eye, a cat's eye has a retina (the light-sensitive part of the back of the eye), which contains cells called rods for seeing in low light, and cells called cones for detecting color. . However, cats have only two types of cones compared to the three types of cones in human eyes, and we have ten times as many cones in total, allowing us to see a wider range of colors. However, cats do have many more rod cells than we do, which means their night vision is far better than ours.

What is a cat's vision like?

If you could see the world through a cat's eyes, it would probably look rather dim and blurry. In addition to colors looking less vivid and bright, anything farther than six meters (20 feet) will look out of focus. This is because cats have a very small range of acute vision compared to ours. Our vision is sharpest when we look at objects 30 to 60 meters (100 to 200 feet) away, but cats need to be closer to objects to see clearly. However, cats do have a much wider field of view than we do, a bit like looking through a fisheye lens, and they see better in low light. Their pupils are much wider than ours, allowing more light to enter their eyes, so they only need one-sixth the amount of light we do to see.

How do dogs perceive color differently than cats?

Dogs' vision is very similar to that of cats in that they also have only two types of color-sensitive cones in their eyes, making any color other than blue and yellow appear gray. They also have more rod cells than humans, which helps them see better at night. Dogs also have a wider field of view, at 240 degrees, compared to 200 degrees for cats and 180 degrees for humans.