# Why don't cats watch TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-cats-watch-tv/356589 "2006-05-13T03:13:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-cats-watch-tv/356589/21 "2006-05-13T20:57:53Z")
One of my cats tried to “catch” the monkeys on a National Geographic special. And they occasionally DO watch other stuff, but not often. I don’t recall the dog ever watching. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-cats-watch-tv/356589/22 "2006-05-13T23:29:38Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Then I sure have a dumb kitty-kat then. BUT, if she jumps up on my lap while I’m on the computer she goes \* nuts \* over the cursor when it moves on the screen. I guess she thinks it’s a bug or something. 🙂 The Average cat is to smart to watch TV when us humans are around. They wait until we are out of the house to watch. They generally prefer discovery channel and PBS of course. 😉 I had a cat that would constantly play with the computer. She would try to catch the mouse pointer. She would also hit the keys at random sometimes and play a few keys on the Piano. As far as TV, my cats have rarely reacted to any show. Shows that they are smarter than I am. Jim ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-cats-watch-tv/356589/23 "2006-05-14T00:22:30Z")
i’m trying to remember where i read, that it is the “slow” cats that can see tv. most cats don’t see what we see on tv, they see lines. lines aren’t interesting. found a discussion on it. [http://www.pet-manual.co.uk/showthread/t-3426.html](http://www.pet-manual.co.uk/showthread/t-3426.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-cats-watch-tv/356589/24 "2006-05-14T13:14:05Z")
My monsters ignore the TV, except for one thing. A siren will set them off running from the room. The world is their TV. Give them a window and they are happy. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-cats-watch-tv/356589/25 "2006-05-14T14:02:34Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > We’ve got a cat that will watch NASCAR races all day long if we let him. Which we don’t. His little head just goes round, and round, and round… My parent’s cats also loved auto racing (though they may have favored F1). They’d sit atop the set looking down at the screen, and would bat their paws at where they though the cars would come out. ---
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-cats-watch-tv/356589/26 "2006-05-14T14:21:43Z")
My kitty ignores TV. TV time is when she gets to lay on my completely upsidedown and squirm and purr in my undivided attention. I’ve heard the whole smart cat sees too fast thing too…but my cat isn’t the feline genius of the world. She much prefers talking to the wildlife outside the windows or playing with kitty toys. She will play with the mouse pointer when I let her. What she is absolutely fascinated by is scanners and printers. Whenever I print or scan, she will wake up from a slumber of the dead and come running to sit atop the printers or scanners and look around for where all the whirring and zzzting noises come from. Then _gasp_ paper comes scootching out at her little paws. It is about all that she can take. ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-cats-watch-tv/356589/27 "2006-05-14T14:46:38Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > When we first got surround sound, I tested it out with a DVD of Jurassic Park. The poor cat was walking through the living room when the T-Rex roared. I’ve never seen her get so flat on the ground, as she just quivered, waiting to be munched by the monster. I knew that I wasn’t the only one, but I set a trap for my test. Cranked the volume and waited until he got right in front of the tv and hit play on the T-rex attack scene. He froze in mid-step on the first roar with just his eyes darting around the room. The second roar sent him into full “holy shit” flight mode and he bolted into the bedroom. It only worked once, though, if I try it today he just gives me a dirty look. Our cats will watch tv, but I think it’s mostly a social thing they do to get some “human time”. I rarely see them watching if we aren’t on the couch with them, although one of the males seems to have a fascination with NYPD Blue. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-cats-watch-tv/356589/28 "2006-05-14T15:52:08Z")
I used to have some cats that would see a cat on TV, then race across the room, jump on top of the TV, look behind it, and then look bewildered and dismayed when the cat they saw was not present there. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-cats-watch-tv/356589/29 "2006-05-14T17:08:40Z")
My cat would take swipes at Kid Icarus. (One of the first Nintendo games.) She also enjoyed watching me play Mike Tyson Boxing. Regular TV? Nah. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-cats-watch-tv/356589.md?page=1)