Can cats see what we can see?

Answer 1

Cats can see almost as well as humans can, and at times better. Cat vision is designed for detecting motion, useful for hunting. Like humans, cats have binocular vision, although not as well tuned as in humans. This means a cat most likely sees in 3-D, as do humans, which is very useful for judging distance.

Cats appear to be slightly nearsighted, which would suggest their vision is tailored more for closer objects, such as prey, that can capture within running distance. Objects farther than several hundred yards rarely interest a cat.

Cats have the ability to jump from as much as 6 feet onto a narrow window ledge without touching the window. This feat would require not only excellent balance, but also precise distance judgment. Cats have both rods and cones in the retina. Rods are the receptors that the eye uses for night time viewing and sudden movement. Cones are used during the daytime, and process color information. Cats have more rods than cones, as compared with humans, making cat night and motion vision superior to humans.

In low light, like night, color and hue are not perceived, only black, white and shades of gray. Cats have an elliptical pupil which opens and closes much faster than round types and allows for a much larger pupil size. This allows more light to enter the eye. Cats also have a mirror like membrane on the back of their eyes called a Tapetum. It reflects the light passing through the rods... back through the rods a second time, this time in the opposite direction. The result is a double exposure of the light, which permit cats to see well in near darkness.

Although a cat cannot see in total darkness, a partly cloudy night sky with some stars will provide enough light for cats to hunt and see movement, even in the cover of most brush. At night, a cat relies on it's extremely sensitive hearing and directional ear movement to locate the general position of prey, then targets and captures the prey using it's keen eyesight.

The yellowish glow you see when you shine a light into cat eyes at night, is really your light reflecting off the Tapetum membrane.

Hope this answers your question.

Answer 2

It depends a bit on how you mean. They can see most of the same objects. But the don't have the distance. Their fields of one dimensional vision and binocular vision is different. Their Pupils are a different shape so the world looks like a different shape. They see things at a different speed and in slightly different colours. There is more. But that is close enough.

Answer 3

Cats can see better then us at night. They have incredible night vision. And I'm pretty sure they are not colorblind but they can't as many colors as we can. Certain shades of a color all look the same to them. I bet if you look it up or ask a vet you can get a sure answer. :)

Answer 4

Oh sure! All the time lol, it makes me soar up with fright and apologize (cats name) after which I appreciate it is just one of the crucial cats rubber balls that i am stepping on. It's so humorous when that happens! Lol

Answer 5

Sorry...but how can we REALLY know that ? We can't communicate with a cat to really know this. Is'nt it enough to know that cat's can see and appreciate? My cat just came in meowing and she wants to go outside to take care of some 'kitty business' ... so off I go. Smiles to you.

Answer 6

cats can see better than us in low light levels but not quite as good in daylight, their huge eyes make better use of small amounts of light, but they also rely on thier hearing and vibrations in thier whiskers to stalk prey
so in answer to your question they see differently but better at night

Answer 7

i think they can, dogs can't but i'm not sure if they see things in color

Answer 8

yes, but theres slight clearity difference....They catch moving objects very fast....& can see much better at night then us................

Answer 9

dunno!!