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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..
