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Insight Into Your Cats Vision
Have you ever looked into your cats eyes and wondered what she was seeing when looking
at you? Does she see colors and shapes as you do? Can she really see in the dark? Why
do cat eyes “glow” in the dark? How good is cat vision anyway?
Cats have huge eyes when compared to their head size. In fact, if our eyes were as big,
comparatively, they would have to be 8 inches, each! This huge size is coupled with a bulge
that gives great peripheral vision, giving such great cat vision, especially when compared
to human sight.
It is not secret that cat vision at night is excellent. But why? When looking into your
cats eyes, you will notice that during the day, the pupils are nothing more that little
slits. However at night, those slivers open up to encompass almost 90% of the cats eye.
This lets in even the faintest amount of light that is available.
Another valuable asset for cat vision at night is a special membrane called the tapetum
lucidum which is located behind the eye itself. This reflective membrane bounces any
available light back to the retina, which then allows the cat to see even better in dark
situations. However, cat vision can only be so good, they can not see in complete darkness.
So, cat vision is great at night, but what about color? Do they see color like we do, or
black and white like dogs? Actually, cats see in between, studies have shown that they do
see some color, but not as well as humans do. What cats do see better is movement.
Cat vision, like human vision is determined by the number of cones (for color) and rods (for
light) that the eye is made up of. Human eyes have more cones than rods, therefore, we
see color better than movement. A cats eye however, has more rods than cones, which
means they see motion better than color, which only makes sense. To be a successful
hunter, one must see movement, not color.
Cats have another great tool for keeping their eyesight protected, a third eyelid called
the nictitating membrane. This protective membrane is used when a cat is using its
unmanning eyesight to hunt in tall grass, the third eyelid covers the eye to prevent
injury. This membrane will also become apparent if there is an issue with the cats vision
that is caused by an illness. Generally speaking, when you see this, its time to see the vet.
The next time you look into your cats beautiful eyes, you will be able to appreciate all
that nature has provided for your cats vision.
