Can Cats See Color? Understanding How Your Feline Friend’s Vision Works

Cute kitties love to chase, jump, and catch all sorts of things. They are playful by nature, especially when they are small. But did you know that they can’t see all colors.

While cats don’t see as many colors as humans, they do have an amazing ability to notice small, quick movements with much broader vision. They are also uniquely equipped to see in the dark, making them excellent night hunters.

Color blindness has nothing to do with the ability to see, rather it refers to the ability (or lack thereof) to distinguish colors. Both humans and cats have two types of color receptors in their eyes: rods and cones. The cones manage daytime vision and color perception. Rods address what can be seen at night and the ability to see from side to side and around (peripheral vision).

CAN CATS SEE COLOR?

Our feline friends can see some colors, but are there particular colors that cats can see better? Cats’ two color-detecting cones allow them to see blue-violet and yellow-green wavelengths of light, but not red-orange. So, like dogs, cats primarily see things in shades of yellow, gray, and blue, but some researchers believe cats can notice some shades of green, too.

So that laser pointer you tease your cat with isn’t a great option to play with. Your cat likely doesn’t realize how bright that red is, and instead just sees the fast, bouncing motion of the light. Not to mention, it’s frustrating for them to endlessly chase an unattainable target.

Cats have a tapetum lucidum, or a thin reflective layer at the back of the eye that ‘bounces’ and magnifies light in dark places,” says Alicen Tracey, DVM at Den Herder Veterinary Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa. Tracey says that this reflective layer is the reason why the eyes of dogs and cats tend to “glow” in the dark.

This innate ability to see in the dark means that a kitty can wreak havoc in the great outdoors, killing all sorts of small creatures, including native bird species. So you need to keep an eye on your little panther, as its eyes can keep a close eye on other animals as well.

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