Special Cat Senses.

It is always fascinating to speculate on whether our cat can see, hear or smell or taste things in the same way we do. The eye of the average cat is smaller than our own, light, can expand to over three times the area of ours.

The visual world of the cat is very different from ours. Cats can see in colour, but their perception of it is believed to be much more restricted than that of humans. Cats are colour blind to red, but can perceive greens, yellows and blues. However, cats regard colour brightness, pattern, size and shape of objects around them. Neither cats nor people can see in complete darkness, but cats can see a great deal more than we can when there is a small glimmer of light. It is easier for the cat to see if the object she is watching, moves. An unusual feature of cats' eyes is the greenish blue reflection or eye-shine that is seen at night when a light is directed into her eyes. This is due to a reflective layer of cells behind the retina, known as the tapetum, which enhances dark vision. Much of the light which enters our eyes, falls between the visually sensitive cells of the retina and is absorbed, undetected in the back of the eye. When the cat is sunbathing she can narrow the pupils to a slit which can be closed completely save for a tiny pinhole at each end. In this way she protects her super-sensitive vision on sunny days and does not need to keep the eyes closed.

Most domestic pet cats which live indoors tend to become short-sighted compared with feral cats that are longsighted, especially useful for hunting prey. The eyes of many cats have become lazy, never needing to travel from near to distant objects and back. Cats are similar to us in the position of their eyes which are set in the front of the head and produce binocular vision. The visual world of horses, cattle, sheep and many dogs with their eyes on the side of the head does not allow a very large binocular vision but they can see almost all around the head. Because of this difference, cats are thought to see three-dimensional images of objects which is good for hunting.

What can cats hear?
They have acute hearing and can hear sounds inaudible to us. The upper range of human hearing is 18-20 KHz and cats can hear in the ultrasonic range up to 50-60 KHz. The environment is full of sounds in the ultrasonic range (above 20 KHz) that the cat can hear. A hunting cat pays great attention to sounds as they are important indicators of where the prey is located, and a successful hunter can pinpoint exactly from where the sounds are coming. Another ability the cat has for detecting sound is directing her ears towards the sound source. This can be achieved with both ears together or one at a time.It is hard for us to imagine exactly what a cat sees, just as it is impossible for us to taste in the same way as a cat does. The cat's taste buds are on her tongue, like ours, and look very similar. However, the fact that our cat dislikes many of the foods we find tasty, suggests that they do not perceive tastes in the same way that we do. Their nutritional requirements are different

_{source Cats & Kittens Mag.}