Sometimes we may take our senses for granted. It’s a blessing to be able to see, hear, smell, taste and touch. Cats are blessed with amazing senses and they can easily use them to their full advantage. Cats’ senses are designed to help them navigate their environment with ease. With their super-sonic hearing and sensitive noses at the helm, they can sense things in a way we can only imagine. The Hartz.com website provides some insight below into cats’ senses and how they experience the world.
In the darkness, cats have laser-like focus.
Whereas we may struggle in lowlight situations, it is “game on” for cats. Cats can see quite well at night due to the special layers in their eyes that reflect light. This allows them to use their sense of sight more efficiently than other animals. During the day, however, when the light is greater, a cat’s eyes are actually worse than a human’s eyes. Advantage: human!
Due to their predatory nature, cats have extremely good depth perception. Their vision is also capable of focusing strongly on movement alone. This aids in their hunting skills, as their eyes do not need the lubrication from frequent blinking. As such, they can maintain a steady focus on their prey.
Then there is that keen sense of smell.
This sense is often 15x greater in cats than in humans. (Imagine some scents that would be an inscribed assault on the senses here!) Cats can use this remarkable sense of smell to navigate their environment. But wait! There’s more! Cats also have a pair of organs knows as the Jacobson’s organs. Located on the roof of the mouth, these operate as a second sense detector. Therefore, if you have ever seen your cat grimace or pull back his upper lip and open his mouth, he is most likely deferring to that second scent detector to do the work!
Do you hear what I hear?
Welcome to the auditory world of cats, where advanced hearing takes the stage, thanks to their large, perky ears. Cats can hear sounds about as low as humans can, but they can also hear much higher pitches than humans can. In fact, their range of hearing exceeds that of dogs! Advantage: cat! Cats can also distinguish between different tones and pitches better than humans can and rely on this sense to pinpoint prey.
That sense of taste: What? No sweet tooth?
Taste just so happens to be the weakest sense in cats. Why? Well, they have fewer taste buds than dogs or humans. Their sense of taste for fats and proteins is strong, but their sense of taste for something sweet or salty is quite diminished.
Touch here!
Cats sense touch via their paws and the rest of their body. However, they sense it more through their whiskers. Through their whiskers, cats can gather detailed information to help them create a deeper understanding of their world.
Written by Ann Butenas
An internationally-recognized author and writer, Ann began her professional writing career at age 12 and began speaking while in college. She has been published thousands of times over the past three decades in all media forms, was former editor and publisher of KC Metro Woman magazine, and has also hosted three talk radio shows in the Kansas City area.
