Sensory Perception in Cats

Understanding how your cat sees the world around them, can help you to create a much stronger bond with them.

It also helps in appreciating their needs and requirements, which can both influence behavioural traits and ensure their lives are more content and fulfilled.

Just like us humans, a cat’s five senses help them to navigate and decipher the environment they live in. But unlike humans, cats use their senses in a very different way to us. They pick up on every little detail, they hear noises humans can’t hear and smells we can’t smell.

Here’s a little look into how these amazing creatures see the world around them.

Sense of smell

A cat’s sense of smell is 14 times more sensitive than the average human. Therefore, a smell that we might find very slight, can be overwhelming for our feline friends.

Some smells such as perfume, cleaning products and other chemical smells can be offensive to them and even cause fear, or be potentially dangerous.

Other smells to be aware of are other animals and unfamiliar people. A cat will pick up on a new family member (human or otherwise), or a visitor, before they have even seen them.

It is important to remember this, when introducing new people, animals or smells, into your home, and to introduce them slowly, so as not to overwhelm them.

Smells can also help to settle a cat in an unfamiliar environment. When settling a cat/kitten into a new home, taking something with a familiar scent on (i.e. a blanket with their smell, or the mother’s scent, or an item of owner’s clothing), will help them feel more relaxed and less stressed.

Hearing

Not only can a cat hear much higher frequencies than most other mammals, but they have a fantastic ability to judge where the sound is coming from. This is one of the reasons why they are so good at catching prey and protecting themselves from danger.

One thing to remember about this, is that new, loud or high frequency sounds, can sometimes be stressful for a cat.

Sight

Cats can see very well in dim light and they are very sensitive to movement. This helps to enhance their hunting skills and to protect themselves from predators. They are very good at seeing things close up but not so good at seeing things further away from them.

Unlike dogs, it is believed that cats don’t see us as humans but as slightly clumsy bigger cats, therefore they greet us in exactly the same way, as they would greet another cat!

Touch

From birth, touch is a primary form of affection for cats. The more contact you have with a cat while it’s young, the more likely it is to enjoy human contact as an adult. Cats do not generally like prolonged petting from their owners but will show their affection in other ways, such as sitting on your lap, following you around the house and sleeping on your bed, so they can stay close to you.

A cat’s whiskers are an extension of the way they feel. They are extremely sensitive and very good at picking up changes in the environment, such as air currents, air pressure changes in temperature, and even wind direction.

When feeding your cat, it’s a good idea to use a flat dish rather than a bowl, as using a bowl can cause whisker stress, due to the whiskers bumping up against the side of its dish. A good indication that this is happening is your cat scooping their food out of their bowl to eat.

Taste

Cats have a very weak sense of Taste. This is mainly due to the fact they only have 473 taste buds in comparison to our 9000. But what they lack in taste buds, they make up for with their sense of smell, to compensate.

Cats will use their sense of smell to decide whether a food is palatable to them. Therefore, the smell of their food is extremely important to them.

We hope these facts have given you a bit of an insight into how a cat perceives the world around them and has helped you understand why they do the things they do, to enable you to provide them with everything they need and ultimately, create a stronger bond with your feline friend.