Welcome to You Ask Andy

Steve Downey, age 14, of Cabin Creek, W. Va., for his question:

CAN CATS SEE IN THE DARK?

The cat is one of the most popular house pets in the world. Most are very smart. They can kill mice, do a few tricks  such as open doors and even ring doorbells ¬and they also provide lots of company and entertainment for members of the family. Pride seems to be one of the cat's strong traits, and there is also a lot of independence. If the cat doesn't want to play, he'll let you know.

Powerful eyes have always been one of the cat's best features. While many people believe that cats can see in complete darkness, this is not true. At night, the pupils of the cat's eyes can open extremely wide, letting in all the dim light there is. Because of this, a cat can indeed see very well in the dimmest of light.

Cat's eyes are usually orange, green, brown, hazel or blue. Some wild members of the family have yellow, gray or green eyes. Various breeds of cats have different colors for the iris  the colored area around the pupil  of their eyes.

A cat's eyes shine in the dark because of light that is reflected by the tapetum, that layer of cells forming a large part of the inner eye. The tapetum can be green, gold, blue or even pink. It reflects a different color as the light changes.

While a cat can open its pupil very wide when it is dark, it can also narrow the pupil to a very thin slit when the light is bright and there's a need to shut out the glare.

When it is time for a litter of kittens to be born, the mother usually picks out a very dark and hidden spot. She does this because she instinctively wants to protect the eyes of the newborn kittens from bright light since from eight to 10 days after a kitten is born his eyes are not fully open. Bright light, if it were to hit the kitten's eyes during this period of time, could easily cause injury. The hidden place is also selected to keep the kittens safe from prowlers.

A cat's eyes serve him very well and rarely offer problems. Cats do catch colds, however, and one of the effects is that there's a runny nose with lots of sneezing and also a watering of the eyes. But colds don't usually last very long, and then the eyes are back in good shape again.

The average age for most cats is 14, although many get to be 18 or 19 and some have gone all the way to 30. Because they see so well, are swift, agile and have perfect senses of balance, they can usually get out of most dangerous situations. That's the reason why people say that a cat has nine lives.

 

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