Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see the world through your cat’s eyes? Have you thought about whether cats see things the way we do? It has always been thought that pets see in black and white, and knowing the certainty of this has taken many years, since it has not been possible to openly and directly ask a cat what its vision is like and compare it with the answers of other cats.
The truth is that it has taken a long time, but finally the studies have given their results. Although the ocular structure of felines is similar to that of humans, and its function is the same, the truth is that the eyes of cats have some special characteristics, such as some adaptations that they have undergone over the years to be able to carry out other functions, such as hunting.
If you want to know the mysterious data that surrounds the eyes of cats and discover how cats see, continue reading this article to clear up your doubts and discover impressive data about the vision of cats.
Cats are born with their eyes closed, and they will not open them until after about 8 or 10 days, at the moment when they finally open their eyes they do not have visual capacity, that is, they do not see, they are blind, and they have to wait a few 24 hours for your vision to start developing. Little by little they will begin to distinguish shapes and forms and their vision will be blurry at first, but in a month or two they will be able to reach their full visual capacity. It is also common for the cat to have blue eyes during the first weeks of life, as they do not reach their final color until three or four months after birth.
Field of view
We understand by field of vision all that area that we are able to see when we focus our eyes on a specific point. We can observe what is right in front of us, but our eyes also capture everything that surrounds that point we focus on, whether it is what is to the side, above or below.
The field of vision of the eyes of cats is much wider than that of humans. Studies carried out by researcher with the help of veterinary ophthalmologists and other researchers show that cats have a field of vision of 200 degrees, while humans only have a field of vision of 180 degrees.
Importance of light
Over the years they have influenced the adaptation and genetic modification of cats, in this regard, the eyes of cats have also evolved to allow better vision during night hunting. This is because the ancestors of what are now our domestic cats needed to increase hunting hours as much as possible, so their eyes adapted to see well in dimly lit environments or even in the dark.
This structural change in cats’ eyes caused by their need to hunt is the reason cats see six to eight times better in the dark.
Cat eye size
Also due to the above reason, to be able to prolong hunting hours and hunt at night and in the gloom, the eyes not only adapted to see better in the dark, but also the size of their eyes grew.
In fact, we can see how cats’ eyes are too large in proportion to the size of their head. Cat expert Bradshaw noted that if you look closely at cat and human eyes as they are roughly equal in size, the difference isn’t as big as you might think.
Binocular view
By having both eyes in front of the face like humans, their vision is binocular, that is, the image they see at a time, that is, the visual field is seen with both eyes at the same time, which allows them to measure distances easily and with certainty.
Blurry vision during the day in cats
Humans and cats share the same types of cells responsible for vision such as rods (which are responsible for black and white vision) and cones (which are responsible for distinguishing colors).
We can say that the light receptor cells that are found in the eyes of cats and are the ones that have the function of vision are not distributed in the same way that they are distributed in humans. In addition, the cells that predominate in the eyes of cats are the rods, while the most numerous cells in the eyes of humans are the cones.
Cats’ daytime vision has been shown to be much more blurred. You know why? Well, this is because the eyes of cats do not correctly send the exact and detailed information of which is the photoreceptor cells of the retina that are stimulated to the brain during the day.
The rods of the feline eyes connect to each other forming small groups of cells, and do not connect directly with any ocular nerve as in the case of humans.
This arrangement allows them to see much better in dim or semi-darkness, while it is in this environment that humans see much worse.
In addition, due to the scarce light, and therefore the little absorption of this by the color photoreceptors in the eyes, we can say that cats see in black and white at night, not being able to distinguish any other color in dark environments and without Light.
Cats have difficulty focusing up close
Cats have some difficulty focusing the image up close. This is because having large eyes presents some difficulties, including how hard it is for cats to focus, so their near vision becomes blurry. On the other hand, humans have muscles in their eyes whose function is to distort objects that were very close and that allow them to see them much better. It can be said that the eyes of cats are like huge targets of a reflex camera, which are difficult to handle and focus.
They don’t have black and white vision
Surely you have always heard that dogs and cats see in black and white. And this belief that has lasted for a long time is still with us, but it is true that some experts have carried out some studies to find out if this is entirely true or not. Of course, it has been a long and confusing process, since the animals cannot simply tell us what colors they see or what their vision is like, but nothing happens, finally they have come up with completely reliable results, and that is that the Cats do NOT see in black and white. In addition to black and white, cats are able to distinguish other colors.
Although this ability is fundamental for us, for cats it is not so interesting, in fact, it is not for most mammals that see in color, with the exception of primates.
We all have receptor cells in our eyes called cone cells, and they are the ones that allow us to perceive and distinguish colors. Human cones are tricolor, that is, they perceive three colors, red, blue, and green, which is why human vision is called trichromatic. On the other hand, cats, as well as dogs, do not have the receptor cones for the color red and therefore only distinguish colors such as blue, green and yellow, which is what, is called dichromatic vision. Veterinary expert Bradshaw even went so far as to say that cats can be considered “blind” to shades of red or pink.
On the other hand, cats do not see colors with the same intensity, vividness or saturation as people. Instead they see the colors very softly, and in a pale tone, we could say. The colors are not so striking nor can they observe a great impact between the colors or distinguish between different shades or intensities of the same color, since everyone will see them in a very similar way.
Now you have all the information you needed about how cats see, so that we have seen the intrinsic characteristics of feline vision, as well as we have been able to verify that some myths about how cats see are false, as is the case of who see in black and white, remember that they can also see other colors, such as yellow, green and blue, but in a much lower intensity than how we see them and distinguish them, however for them seeing in color is not as important, and they would be just as happy seeing it in black and white.
