• Question: Do cats and dogs visualise a screen and recognise its movements?

    Asked by hunterthea10 to Hannah, Ian, Jono, Mark on 26 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Ian Wilson

      Ian Wilson answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Hi hunterthea10,

      Yes, cats and dogs can see computer and TV screens and recognise what’s moving on them. Lots of dog owners watch TV with their dogs! The only downside for the dogs is that they don’t have as good colour vision as humans so the picture wouldn’t be quite as pretty to them!

      Whether cats and dogs understand that what they’re seeing isn’t actually in the room is another question entirely!

      Cheers,

      Ian

    • Photo: Hannah Brotherton

      Hannah Brotherton answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Hi hunterthea10,
      Cats and dogs can see movement perfectly like humans, so they can definitely see movements on a screen. That’s why they watch tv or start barking when they see another dog. They just don’t see black and white so don’t get to enjoy epic films as much as us 😛

      But dogs and cats can hear higher sound like us and having a TV on or even a light bulb on is like us hearing a high pitched bell going on 24/7. So that’s why i sometimes turn the TV off when they are trying to sleep 😀

    • Photo: Jono Bone

      Jono Bone answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Hi hunterthea10,

      I think this video answers your question.

      They definitely recognize movements and because they don’t understand how a TV works they probably think the dog they see on TV is really in front of them.

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