For us humans, the world is colourful. It used to be assumed that this was not the case for cats – they were dichromatic, i.e. colour-blind. Today, however, we know that this is not quite true. Cats can certainly recognise colours. Albeit differently to us humans.
If you know a little about what colours cats see and how their vision works, this can help you make your cat happier and, if necessary, calm her down.
But what colours do cats actually see?
Cats can easily distinguish between shades of blue and violet. They can see blue most clearly. This is probably why blue is the favourite colour of most cats. Cats can also see greenish-yellow colors well, although less intensely. What cats can recognise poorly or not at all are both reddish and orange tones. These probably appear more grayish to them. This is also the reason why cats don't particularly like red toys. Blue or green toys, on the other hand, are usually well-received. They seem much more interesting.
However, don't assume that this means your cat can only see blue and yellow. Some other colours simply look different. Purple, for example, is made of red and blue. Your cat can't see the red part, but can see the blue part. That's why our purple appears blue to your cat. Yellow, on the other hand, appears greenish to your cat – it can't see the red part. On the other hand, red contains neither blue nor green, so your cat perceives red as gray.
In general, cats probably see colours a little less vividly than we humans do.
