All of us who have had the opportunity to live with cats know that these incredible felines can constantly surprise us with their habits and behaviors. In fact, these animals were worshiped by various cultures thanks to their countless abilities and powerful instincts.
And although many feline attitudes may seem somewhat "strange" to us, the truth is that it is worth discovering their behavior better to understand and admire them even more. In this new article on our site, we invite you to find out why cats stare at nothing
The vision of cats: myths and truths
The senses and instincts of felines cause us so much curiosity that we have been building a series of fantasies about it. To understand them a little better, we will summarize some truths and myths about the vision of cats, only then you will understand why cats stare at nothing:
1. "Cats have a greater visual field than humans" - TRUTH
Researchers specializing in feline vision confirmed that cats have a wider visual field than humans. While our field of vision is 180 degrees, that of felines reaches 200 degrees. [1]
two. "Cats see better in dim light than in bright light" - TRUTH
It is true that felines have privileged night vision, since they evolved to be able to hunt in dense darkness. The structure of their eyes is different from ours and is prepared to perceive better under dimmer lights. Cats inherited this trait from their feline ancestors and can see up to 8 times better than humans in dim light. [two]
Another interesting fact about feline vision is that their eye structure makes it difficult for them to see during the day. The cells of your eyes, when subjected to intense light, fail to transmit detailed information to the brain. Therefore, for a cat, the images are more blurred during the day.
3. "Cats see in black and white" - FALSE
Human eyes have 3 types of color receptor cells: blue cone cells, red cone cells, and green cone cells. This explains why we are able to distinguish a huge number of colors and shades.
Cats and dogs do not have the red cone, so they become unable to perceive shades of pink and red. They also have difficulty recognizing the intensity and saturation of colors. But it is false that cats see in black and white, since they distinguish shades of blue, green and yellow. [3]
Why do cats stare at nothing?
Have you found your cat constantly staring at nothing for hours on end? It is inevitable to ask ourselves what absorbs their attention so much, right? This feline behavior generates so much curiosity that some say that cats and even dogs can see ghosts. As the supernatural cannot be reached by our knowledge, we will try to explain why cats stare at nothing due to other reasons:
The first thing we must understand is that where we see "nothing", felines can see a lot. Our vision is limited in some respects and we may not perceive various subtle stimuli that cats' keen instincts pick up quickly.
But the extreme concentration of felines is not explained only by their visual capacity. This is related to the harmony between your senses, your brain and your body, which provides balance to your body. For our cat, the simple reflection of a small bug or a dust particle on the wall can capture your attention for hours and hours at a time.
We are bombarded daily with thousands of data, images and sounds. Therefore, it becomes increasingly difficult for us to concentrate on one thing. Also, to keep up with our times, we get used to ignoring many details to focus on what we consider most important. If our cat stares at "nothing", we shouldn't panic or worry.
However, in those cases in which the feline shows symptoms related to boredom, we should assess whether this behavior may be due to a lack of environmental stimulation. In this case, the best thing to do is bet on enriching the environment with toys, catwalks, feline residences…
