Melanie's Blog Are Cats color blind? It is often said that cats are color blind, so they see the world in black and white. In fact, cats are ‘color blind’, not color blind. It’s not that cats can’t see colors at all, it’s that they can see fewer colors than humans and have a poor ability to distinguish colors. So, what colors can cats see?
1. Causes of Color Blindness in Cats
Unlike humans, cats cannot see all colors due to differences in retinal cells. Cats have fewer and fewer visual cells (cones) that help distinguish colors than humans.
2. What Colors can Cats see?
Cats are color blind, not color blind, who see a black-and-white world. The colors cats can see most clearly are blue and yellow and red-green color blindness, which can’t tell the difference between red and green. Because cats cannot distinguish between red and green. There are few colors that can be seen. So it cannot distinguish between pink and orange mixed with red. Also, cats can’t see purple very clearly.
3. Good Night Vision
Instead of cats being unable to see different colors, they are resistant to darkness. It is said that only 1/6 of a person needs light to see in the dark. This allows the cat to see more brightly around it, even at night.
4. Severe Myopia
A cat’s vision is about 1/10 that of a human, and it is characterized by very severe myopia. So Cats have very blurry vision. It can only distinguish objects from a distance of about 6 m in front of it. Objects that are far away are seldom seen.
5. Wide Viewing Angle
Cats have a slightly wider field of view than humans. Compared to a human’s 180-degree field of view, a cat’s is about 200 degrees.
6. Excellent Visual Acuity
Cats are said to be about four times more powerful than humans. So it can detect even the smallest movement, so it catches the smallest bugs or sees dust floating in the air.
7. Why Cat’s Eyes Glow at Night
Have you ever seen a cat twinkle in the dark? This is because of the mirror-like cells in the cat’s eye called the tapetum. These cells allow your cat’s eyes to glow in the dark. This tapetum is also the reason why cats have developed night vision.
8. Cats with Various Senses
Cats have darker and less vivid vision than humans. Instead, to compensate for this, cats have a much more developed sense of smell and hearing than humans. So, even if your eyesight is a little low, you don’t have to worry about it as there are no major problems with your cat’s life.
