You may have wondered whether cats see colours in the same way that humans do or even wondered whether they see the world in black and white.

The answer is that cats do have colour perception, but it’s not quite the same compared to humans.

Read on to find out what colours cats can see best, what colours cats cannot see and whether cats can see in the dark.

How Does a Cat See the World?

Cat eyes are ball-shaped and just like human eyes, they consist of an outer layer and an inner part, containing the parts of the eye, such as the pupil, lens and fluid. The pupil controls the amount of light that enters the eye.

In very bright light, the pupil constricts to reduce the amount of light entering the eye and stop the cat being dazzled by the light.

In dim light, the pupil dilates to allow as much light in as possible and help the cat to see in the dark. The lens has the job of focusing the incoming light and directs it through to the back of the eye and on to a specialised, thin layer of cells, known as the retina.

Cells in a Cat's Retina

The cells in the retina are named after their shape, rod cells and cone cells:

• Rod cells: help cats to see in dark or dim light and these cells are also good at detecting movement. Cats have large numbers of these cells in their retina, so they have much better night vision than us.
• Cone cells: function in bright light and allow colour vision. There are different types of cone cells, with some detecting red light, some detecting yellow/green light and some detecting blue light.

Human eyes possess all three types of cone cell and so we can detect a rainbow of colour vision. Cat’s eyes possess only two types of cone cells (blue and yellow/green) and so cats do see shades of blue and yellow spectrum, but do not see red/ orange colours. They also see black and white and shades of grey.

Is a Cat’s Vision Like Someone Who’s Colour Blind?

Colour blindness in people occurs when certain types of cone cell are missing from the retina or are not working quite as they should.

In humans, any of the three types of cone cell can be missing. For example, if the blue cone cells are missing, then the person will not see shades of blue. Affected people often struggle to differentiate between colours, so that red and green may appear the same to them, or blue and yellow may appear the same. For this reason, their type of colour blindness may be called “red-green colour blindness” or “blue-yellow colour blindness”.

Compared to humans, cats see the world in a similar way to people with red-green colour blindness, as cats can’t see red/orange shades.

Is a Cat’s Vision Like Someone Who’s Colour Blind?

Colour blindness in people occurs when certain types of cone cell are missing from the retina or are not working quite as they should.

In humans, any of the three types of cone cell can be missing. For example, if the blue cone cells are missing, then the person will not see shades of blue. Affected people often struggle to differentiate between colours, so that red and green may appear the same to them, or blue and yellow may appear the same. For this reason, their type of colour blindness may be called “red-green colour blindness” or “blue-yellow colour blindness”.

Compared to humans, cats see the world in a similar way to people with red-green colour blindness, as cats can’t see red/orange shades.

What Details Can Cats See?

Although cats have much better night vision than humans, they’re not so good at seeing details. The ability to see details is known as visual acuity.

Human visual acuity is on average about 10 times better than cat visual acuity, so an average cat would need to be within 20 feet of an object to see it clearly, but most humans could see the same object clearly from 100 to 200 feet away.

Although cats need to be closer to objects to see them clearly, too close can be problematic too. Cats are unable to focus well on objects closer than 25cm from their eyes. For close up objects they instead rely on their sense of smell.

Are Cats Short or Long Sighted?

Just like humans, there it a lot of variation between individuals and some cats can be long-sighted and some short-sighted. Unfortunately, we do not yet have tests good enough to accurately know if a cat is short or long-sighted, or by how much and glasses are not really an option. But cats make up for any visual deficits with their other superior senses, such as hearing and smell.

Perhaps surprisingly, cats are not as good at judging depth perception as humans, our close-set eyes (binocular vision) make humans better at this. As cat eyes are positioned further apart than human eyes, cats do have a wider field of view than humans (peripheral vision). This enhanced peripheral vision means that cats can see a wider area than we can, which can be handy for hunting.

What Colours Can Cats See Best?

Humans and cats see the world in slightly different ways. Cats see shades of blue, yellow/green, greys, black and white, but they can’t see shades of red like we can.

Cats make up for their reduced colour vision with better night vision and better peripheral vision than humans. Cats have highly developed other senses such as hearing and smell which also help them to navigate the world.

Things can go wrong with your cat’s vision and if you have any worries about whether your cat is seeing the world as they should then it’s best to speak to your vet for advice. Your vet can tell quite a lot with a simple examination and readily available equipment.

If your vet feels that a more thorough examination is required, then they can refer your cat to a veterinary ophthalmologist who has the specialised knowledge and equipment to diagnose more unusual or complicated problems.

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Content provided from Vetstream's Vetlexicon Felis - www.vetlexicon.com/felis

Vetlexicon is the world’s largest peer-reviewed online clinical reference source. All our content is written and peer-reviewed by over 1,000 of the world’s leading veterinarians, ensuring relevance, accuracy and quality.