Are cats colour blind?

Are cats colour blind? When understanding whether cats are colour blind or not it all comes down to the cones and rods inside a cat’s eye, essentially their eye makeup. The cones are responsible for detecting colours and rods are responsible for detecting light and motion. All mammals have rods and cones; these are also known as photoreceptors in their retinas. How we see life around us determined by how the cones and rods function.

The short answer is yes, a cat is colour blind. Upon researching, we discovered so much about how a cat’s vision truly works.  A cat’s vision is similar to a human who is colour blind. Cats can see some shades of blue and green, but reds and pinks can be hard for them to detect. Since a cat sees mostly blue, this results in a vision that is somewhat blurry with washed-out colours.  A Cats’ visual fields are broader than ours, spanning about 200 degrees instead of 180 (giving them great peripheral vision).  Their visual acuity (ability to make out shapes) isn’t all that great when compared to humans: So the things humans can see at great distances will be blurry for cats because they can only see these objects from shorter distances.

Instead of cone cells that let humans see the world in colourful detail (humans have 10 times the amount of cone cells compared to cats), cats have many more rod cells that excel in dim light and are responsible for night vision capability. Cats are more active in the morning and evening these times of the day are when light levels are low. It is beneficial for them to be able to see in the dark than to see more vibrant colours. Cats are designed to hunt for their survival having more rod cells than cone cells. The rod cells refresh quickly, this lets cats pick up very rapid movements for example the quick movement of a marauding laser dot or a tiny mouse.