Cat Fact or Fiction: Cats are Colour Blind. Well, true and false. You see, people have been trying for years to see if cats can distinguish red and blue (we know they see yellow and green). The answers were a bit confusing and conflicting. Now that we can measure the wavelength detected by the individual cones (coloured light-sensitive cells in the cat's eyes) in the retina, we know cats CAN differentiate blue and red, so they CAN see colours - they just don't care! How Catty!
Cats see better than we do in the dark: True of course, but not because their eyes 'emit light' as was once thought. Cats are as blind as us in complete darkness. However, because of their ears, whiskers, smell and 'who knows what else' senses, they can find their way around very well. Blind cats will jump onto tables, even those blind from birth.
Cats are Blind as Bats (as in myopic - cannot see far away): True. Cats have 20 / 75 vision - which means that what is clear for us at 75 feet, is not in focus for a cat till 20 feet away. All fine if you are looking for small moving mice in the half dark. However, Dr Kim thinks it leads to the often fatal tendency to 'play chicken' with cars. Since a cat cannot focus till 20 feet away, and judging the speed of a moving object need serial focussing, cats wait till the car is close enough to judge their sprint across the road. since they are fast, it usually works. However, if the cat is distracted or chased (by another cat or a dog etc), then they get it wrong and there is no room for mistakes. Proof is that 1 in 3 kittens who go outside in Sydney do not make it to their first birthday, and another 1 in 3 do not make it to their second birthday. Sad, but true, and a GREAT REASON to keep 2 kittens (and a scratching post) as INDOOR ONLY CATS.