Cats are natural hunters, and they often prey on rats, mice and other animlas that are active at night. My cats would often catch something and bring the gooey, squirmy or feathery thing to me for praise.  My squeals hardly qualified as praise to me, but they seemed satisfied.  Good Kitty!  They do love their games.  I always thought they did it on purpose, like naughty children…”let’s go make mommy squeal!” 

To hunt successfuly, catgs must be able to see and stalk their prey even on very dark nights.  Cats see at least six times betterin the dark than people do, and they have the vest night vision of all domestic species.  Contrary to popular belief, however, cats cannot see in total darkness.

One reason that cats see so well in the dark is because their eyes are so big.  In fact, the cat has about the biggest eyes, in proportion to its body weight, of any mammal.  Another reason is that the cat’s retina, the light sensitive part of the eye, contains many cells that are very active in dim light.

Cats also have a special layer of cells at the back of the eye that makes their eyes even more sensitive to light.  Whenlight hits the eye, these cells act as a mirror, reflecting light back through the retina.

Because the eye is gettiing a double dose of light, direct and reflected, very little light is necessary for good vision.  These mirrorlike cells also cause a cat’s eyes to shine in the dark.

Meow about your cat!