- Not a substitute for professional veterinary help.
Feline eyes have many remarkable abilities. Cats can see well in low-light conditions, and they have an extra-wide peripheral view due to the size and position of their eyes. Their slit-shaped pupils also expand or contract to filter light, acting as built-in sunglasses or night vision goggles, depending on their surroundings.
Cats can see color, too—just not in the way you might expect!
Color vision is determined by neurons in the retinas of eyes and color-sensitive cells called cones—and the expression of cones is different between humans and cats, says Dr. Bruce Kornreich, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, and Director of the Cornell Feline Health Center at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Both cats and humans have three types of cones. Humans, however, have many more cones than cats do, so they can see a broader range of colors.
Read on to learn more about your cat’s color vision and what that means for them.
What Colors Can Cats See?
The word “colorblind” might suggest someone has no color vision at all, but generally this isn’t the case. Most of the time, “colorblind” simply means someone’s eyes and brain pick up on a more limited range of colors.
Research into feline vision, including color vision, remains relatively new, so experts don’t yet know for sure exactly what colors cat see. However, evidence suggests cats of all age, breed, and sex seem to have a color-detecting baseline that’s comparable to red-green colorblindness in humans.
“Cats are good at identifying yellows and blues. They’re not very good at distinguishing red from green,” Dr. Kornreich says.
Beyond shades of blue and yellow, a cat’s color spectrum likely only includes muted shades of green and gray.
It’s unlikely cats can pick up on warmer colors like red, pink, purple, orange, and brown. Additionally, they can’t see the same depth and variety that people can, so the colors they can see will be less vibrant.
Via Pixabay/Mihail_hukuna
Why Don’t Cats Need Color Vision?
Colorblindness in cats may mean they see the world in more muted, less colorful tones—but that doesn’t mean they’re missing out or that they have poor vision.
Ultimately, cats don’t need the ability to see a full range of colors. They have many other extraordinary visual adaptations that have contributed to their success as apex predators, Dr. Kornreich says.
How do cats see?
Your cat’s ability to see in low-light or dark conditions is leaps and bounds above yours. This is because cats have a greater percentage of rods, or light-receptive cells, in their retinas. These cells help detect motion.
Since cats are crepuscular, which means they sleep during the day and hunt at dawn and dusk, their eyes evolved so they could better detect prey in dim light.
The size and placement of their eyes and pupil shape also give them advantages in their environment.
A cat’s eyes take up a bigger percentage of their face than other mammals, like humans. The position of their eyes—closer to the sides of their head—give them a broader range of sight and 200-degree peripheral vision.
Their vertical slit pupils can also change the amount of light allowed to enter the eye much more dramatically than a round pupil, Dr. Kornreich says.
A cat’s pupils can dilate and contract, altering the amount of light allowed to enter the eye. But the expansion and contraction of your cat’s pupils doesn’t just filter light to protect their sensitive retinas. This ability may also help improve your cat’s depth perception!
Do Cats Prefer Toys In Certain Colors?
Colors don’t have the same significance to cats as they might to you.
This means when it comes to creating an engaging environment for your cat, you don’t need to worry about color choices to give your cat the right level of enrichment. Your cat might be very particularly about the food they eat and the litter in their cat box, but they won’t mind at all about the color of their favorite toys, bed, or cat tree.
Dr. Kornreich does say toys or activities involving contrasting blue and yellow colors may draw their attention more, but he emphasizes that this remains up for debate. “We don’t have evidence of that in practice,” he says.
That said, cats do tend to prefer specific types of toys.
Dr. Kornreich recommends pet parents choose toys and activities that focus on motion and mimic patterns of their natural prey. Toys that encourage cats to engage in natural behaviors like stalking, pouncing, climbing, and jumping are all great options. This includes:
- Electronic toys that move on their own, like rechargeable mice
- Wand toys
- Lasers
And of course, playing with your cat every day doesn’t just engage their natural instincts. It can also help improve your bond!
