

It's a myth that cats only see the world in black and white, notes AdelaideVet, but your feline friend definitely does not experience the same color spectrum as you. These magical mirrored eyes are why cats can see stuff moving around the room that you can't see, usually just dust bunnies and not something spooky. The light now has a second chance to hit a rod, and to be put to work," ABC explains. In cats, however, "if the light has not hit a rod, it will reflect off the mirror layer and be bounced. If a rod in a human retina doesn't "see" the light, describes ABC Science Australia, it gets absorbed into the black layer behind the retina. Rod cells are more sensitive to light than cone cells because cats have so many rod cells, they're able to perceive more shapes and movements in low light.Īnother reason cat vision is so great in the dark is because of what's called the "mirror layer" behind their retina, which reflects the light absorbed by the eye. This is because of the large number of rod cells, one of two types of photoreceptor cells (the other being cone cells) that cats have. Cats can, however, "see six times better in dim light than people," according to the Merck Veterinary Manual. Do Cats Have Night Vision?ĭesp ite what you may have heard, cats do not have night vision. In turn, cats have highly evolved vision. Cats may not have a sixth sense, but they do have a third eyelid - a thin membrane that provides added protection. More often than not, this is true, but not for the reasons you may think. Can My Cat See Better Than Me?Ĭat parents sometimes get the sense that their fur baby can see something that they can't. How do they see the world?įrom whether cats can see colors to if they've got night vision, we're shedding some light on what cat eyesight is really like. Pet people are entranced with the beauty and mystery of cat eyes, but imagine what it would be like to experience life with cat vision.
