How a Cat's Eyes work

Cats are very intelligent domestic animals. This is the main reason why most of the Western country people prefer adopting a cat over a faithful dog. One more specialty of cats is that they have an excellent night vision. Cat’s vision power is six times more powerful than a human eye. They can work in even one-sixth of the light a human being needs to see the objects near him. The working of a cat’s eye is a very complex and advanced process. It is briefly discussed below-

Cat’s nocturnal vision is too much superior to the eyes of the human. Though they have a very sharp nocturnal vision, they cannot see in complete darkness. In a cats eyes the muscles around the iris surrounding pupils are constructed in a fashion that allows the eye to narrow to a vertical slit in bright light and to fully open in dim light. There is also a reflective layer behind the cat’s retina called the tapetum which reflects the incoming light and throws it back by the cones. This process helps them to derive the maximum use of the light and increase their vision capacity. Cat’s have inner, third eyelid which protects their eyes from dryness or any damage from the environmental factors. The moods of the cats are reflected by their eyes. Different ways of looking depict different moods of the cat. An experienced person can predict the mood of the cat by only looking at their eyes. In low lights, cat’s eyes open as wide as possible to consume the slightest of the lights which are present in the atmosphere. Cats also have the capacity to contract their eyes to a very small one. This technique helps them to protect their sensitive retina from external disturbances. The size of the eyes of the cats is very much larger. This has also a deep significance as this helps in the process in which more and more light is captured by the eyes to increase the vision capacity. The tapetum acts as mirror and reflects almost all the light back which increases the vision up to a great extent. The tapetum gives the glow to the cats eyes which we get to see in the night time.

Unlike other domestic animals, cats have a great vision power with the ability of seeing objects both in the day time and the night time. Cats are also one of the most intelligent pets in the world today. They love their masters and are very friendly by nature. But sometimes they can get violent too. The owner should keep special care of this wonderful creation of the nature.