Can Dogs and Cats See Colors?

Dogs and cats have rods and cones in their reti­nas but in a dif­fer­ent pro­por­tion than in the human retina.  Although they can dif­fer­en­ti­ate col­ors, what they see is likely a more muted ver­sion of what we see.  Dogs, espe­cially, prob­a­bly see more shades of gray than they do all of the indi­vid­ual colors.

Cats, by the way, can con­cen­trate small amounts of light in their eyes, which allows them to see at night when the rest of us have dif­fi­culty.  This spe­cial tal­ent gives them their extra­or­di­nary night hunt­ing vision.