# If I had a cat and I dyed him green would other cats notice or care? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829 "2003-01-25T06:43:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/1 "2003-01-25T06:43:22Z")
Cats come in lot of different colors. If I had a cat and dyed him green would other cats even notice or care? Would the dyed green cat notice or care? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/2 "2003-01-25T06:46:37Z")
Perhaps they would notice and care because the green cat would smell/taste different. Somehow I don’t think they’d care if the only difference was the colour. This brings up another interesting question, _do cats care?_ ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/3 "2003-01-25T06:50:25Z")
If you don’t have a completely odorless dye or one that doesn’t affect the composition of the cat’s fur (making it thicker or thinner), then other cats will notice a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Forbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@Forbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forbin)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/4 "2003-01-25T07:05:13Z")
A tomcat? Perhaps a Tom Green cat. Any cat with a particle of good taste would shun Tom Green methinks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Never\_to\_be\_Queen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Never\_to\_be\_Queen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_to_be_Queen)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/5 "2003-01-25T07:11:21Z")
Skogcat, my cats care deeply when food is involved.😃 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/6 "2003-01-25T07:12:17Z")
Would a kindly mod please add the words “I dyed” before “him” in the title. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/7 "2003-01-25T07:14:16Z")
I don’t know about cats, but pig farmers (not those pig factories) have trouble marking pigs, because the other pigs will shun another pig that has something painted on it. I guess it is pig peer pressure that does it. :eek: [sup]Please don’t ask for a cite on that, since it was told to me about 27 years ago.[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/8 "2003-01-25T07:32:47Z")
I don’t know about cats, but some birds drive away albinos of their species. I know that is true because we had an albino robin who hung around our yard for part of a day. He was sure he was a robin but the others wouldn’t tolerate him and attacked at every opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/9 "2003-01-25T07:55:04Z")
On thinking over my previous post I don’t think a comparison between cats and robins works. Robins are uniformly colored so a different color stands out. Cats are used to a lot of different colored cats. I guess I agree with those who say that if it smelled like a cat, the color wouldn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Perelandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e480ec/32.png) [@Perelandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perelandra)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/10 "2003-01-25T08:05:31Z")
I think the cat would care very much while you were trying to dye it. I am not sure how would you get the cat to hold still for the process. The real problem would be when it tries to lick off the very toxic green dye. But after all is said and done, I don’t think thew cat would care…it just may never trust you again. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/11 "2003-01-25T08:07:04Z")
Why does the previous post make me want to say “If it waddles like a duck and…”? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/12 "2003-01-25T08:28:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Never to be Queen \* > \*\*Skogcat, my cats care deeply when food is involved.😃 \*\* Yeah they definitely care about _themselves_. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/13 "2003-01-25T08:36:30Z")
It may not make any difference to the cat; there’s evidence that they can distinguish colors, but just don’t care about it. From the master: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_004.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_004.html) ---
**Author:** ![Washte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Washte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washte)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/14 "2003-01-25T11:02:55Z")
Since my MIL got the Cat from Hell, I’ve wanted to dunk it in betroot juice to dye her pink. As a Persian she would look like Bagpuss 😃 ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/15 "2003-01-25T12:06:52Z")
My half-cat is always shagging ginger toms, so either cats have no preference or they’re really, really into Robert Redford… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/16 "2003-01-25T12:25:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by istara \* > **My half-cat** What’s the other half? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/17 "2003-01-25T12:42:11Z")
All of which brings up the bizarre book “Why Paint Cats?” (Burton Silver and Heather Busch, Ten-Speed Press, Berkley (naturally), 2002) It is full of cats painted in various patterns. I presumed it was a photoshop scam but the lads in Graphics pronounced themselves satisified that the photos were genuine. I still have my doubts whomsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/18 "2003-01-25T12:42:31Z")
HULK CAT MAD! HULK CAT SMASH! RAAAAAAARRRRR!!! ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/19 "2003-01-25T16:27:37Z")
Anecdote related to whether BIRDS would care-- a friend in college had a big cat that was unfortunately skilled in killing birds and bringing them home. He had a big white patch on this chest so my friend dyed that part with hot pink ‘manic panic’ (a vegetable-based hair dye); the cat caught no more birds. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829/20 "2003-01-25T16:44:19Z")
Let’s find out the Cecil way. Here, kitty, kitty, kitty… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-a-cat-and-i-dyed-him-green-would-other-cats-notice-or-care/150829.md?page=2)