# Do cats know what color they are? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370 "2002-12-17T18:22:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Emilio\_Lizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Emilio\_Lizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilio_Lizardo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/1 "2002-12-17T18:22:25Z")
I am the primary caregiver for an indoor/outdoor cat who is dark orange with a white underbelly. I see him exhibiting stalking behavior by hiding behind trees and the like, but during spring and summer he is quite visible against the green grass and other plants. With the coming of fall, however, he has taken to sitting on piles of leaves on the curb, where he is much better camouflaged. Does he _know_ that this is a better hiding spot, or does he just like the leaves beacause they are soft and smelly? Or is there another process at work here that I’m not seeing? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/2 "2002-12-17T18:31:06Z")
The Master Speaks thus: [Are cats and dogs really color-blind? How do they know?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_004.html) In brief it would seemt hat cats can distinguish at least some colors but probably not as many as humans. Mostly its tough to tell because cats are uncooperative in experiments. More likely your cat just likes lying in leaves. I know my cats like anything that smacks of a nest and a pile of leaves would do nicely. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/3 "2002-12-17T18:36:31Z")
I had a strange uncle that would do the same thing. Is your cat an alcoholic? My guess would be that cats, being natural hunters, would be aware of when they’re fairly camoflaged and when they’re visible if nothing else than by watching other animals reaction to their presence. I just did of course WAG the cat. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/4 "2002-12-17T18:42:17Z")
I had a strange uncle that would do the same thing. Is your cat an alcoholic? My guess would be that cats, being natural hunters, would be aware of when they’re fairly camoflaged and when they’re visible if nothing else than by watching other animals reaction to their presence. I just did of course WAG the cat. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/5 "2002-12-17T19:43:00Z")
Well, our fat tuxedo cat thinks she can crouch behind a chair leg on a red-orange rug and be well-hidden, so I’m guessing the answer is no. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/6 "2002-12-17T19:51:31Z")
My parents had a cat that thought it was well hidden when hidding behind a transparent shower curtain… ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/7 "2002-12-17T20:53:49Z")
Our cat would try and hide behind the ‘step’ between the dining room and living room, then pounce at people that walked by. I guess his reasoning is if he can’t see us down there, then we can’t see him. I have also seen our cats think that they are hiding behind table legs. Theyd even move in such a way to keep the leg between them and their prey ---
**Author:** ![BottledBlondJeanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/0ea827/32.png) [@BottledBlondJeanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BottledBlondJeanie)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/8 "2002-12-17T21:14:57Z")
My cat thinks she’s hidden if she hides _her_ head so she can’t see me. Which leads my SO to call her the Wonder Mop since she looks like one and is slightly less intelligent than one… ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/9 "2002-12-17T21:44:10Z")
When I first came on the board a couple of years ago, someone posted a study that indicated that cats do realized what color they are and will head towards that color to hide themselves a touch better. I decided to test it with my wife’s three cats with some success. I used towels of roughly the same color or mixed colors as the cats and two of the cats (a black and a calico), both seemed to gravitate to the towels that they corresponded best to no matter where I put them (within reason). The grey, on the other hand, simply went to wherever the nearest cat was comfortable and kicked him/her off the towel and lay there. He is something of a bully. I know this is not a scientific study, but it seemed to work for two thirds of our cat population. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/10 "2002-12-18T01:32:02Z")
It doesn’t even have to be color wise. Suppose he stalks three mice or birds and always misses. Soon the cat will say “Boy this isn’t such a good hunting spot anymore.” So it moves. Thru trial and error it will find a new spot. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/11 "2002-12-18T01:46:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*I had a strange uncle that would do the same thing. Is your cat an alcoholic? \*\* You should know I laughed out loud at this. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/12 "2002-12-18T01:59:15Z")
Actually I remember seeing a show about animal awareness on the Discover channel. They tested a bunch of animals by putting them in a room or a tank with a huge mirror. After the animals got used to things they would then put marks on the animals faces and bodies and watched what happened. IIRC the only animals that noticed the new marks were dolphins. The dolphins would try and get rid of the marks. The rest of the animals didn’t give a damned. This included cats. The cats ignored marks on their bodies that they could see without the use of the mirror. From that it seemed that cats have a very low level of body self-awareness. But I could be wrong. Slee ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/13 "2002-12-18T03:05:25Z")
I did experiments in the early 80’s that proved my cat could see blue. On the other hand she used to hider her lucky rabbit’s foot in her water dish. I suppose if she couldn’t smell it, then it was well hidden. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/14 "2002-12-18T03:07:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BottledBlondJeanie \* > My cat thinks she’s hidden if she hides _her_ head so she can’t see me. Well, it would work against the [Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal](http://www.internode.net/users/mikeu/hhgttg/rbbbot.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/15 "2002-12-18T10:25:29Z")
Quick! Where’s my towel? Here comes the Ravenous Bugbl ---
**Author:** ![JAPrufrock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@JAPrufrock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JAPrufrock)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/16 "2002-12-18T14:29:04Z")
:::From that it seemed that cats have a very low level of body self-awareness. ::: Or, maybe dolphins and people are just vain, and the rest of the animal world doesn’t give a darn… ---
**Author:** ![BottledBlondJeanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/0ea827/32.png) [@BottledBlondJeanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BottledBlondJeanie)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/17 "2002-12-18T16:27:11Z")
Ya made me laugh **Achenar** I’d forgotten all about that one…used to play the Infocom Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 🙂 Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/18 "2002-12-18T18:46:44Z")
They seem to know what color other cats are, though. Ours are clearly less aggressive toward cats with similar coloration (not the same subspecies–just the same general color). ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/19 "2002-12-18T23:27:53Z")
I’ve heard (at a cat exhibit) that orange color was a ‘mistake’ of sorts that only survived because of domestication. Orange cats would have a very hard time surviving in the wild (or any non-apex preditor painted like a bulleye). But if it wasn’t for orange cats the most camo. cat would never had evolved the tourtiseshell (add a white belly for cuteness) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370/20 "2002-12-19T00:29:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by k2dave \* > \*\*I’ve heard (at a cat exhibit) that orange color was a ‘mistake’ of sorts that only survived because of domestication. Orange cats would have a very hard time surviving in the wild (or any non-apex preditor painted like a bulleye). But if it wasn’t for orange cats the most camo. cat would never had evolved the tourtiseshell (add a white belly for cuteness) 😉 \*\* And that’s why Bengal tigers are purple? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-know-what-color-they-are/143370.md?page=2)