How do cats see the world?

Cats perceive the world in a way different from humans; they see in color, but not the same way we do, and the muted colors help them detect movement.

They can see quite well in low light conditions – they see well at about one sixth of the light a human needs – but they can’t focus on anything closer than a foot away. Cats use their whiskers for detecting objects close to them.

Cats have a wider visual field than humans – the average human has a visual field of 180 degrees and the cat 200 degrees. On the other hand, they’re nearsighted. A cat has to be at a distance of only 20 feet to see what a human can see at 100 or even 200 feet.

Humans see bright colors, but a cat’s color perception is more muted. They see shades of blue and green, but scientists believe reds and pinks appear more like green and purple like another shade of blue.