The adventures of Patty's octopus

A couple of years ago I bought a cat toy from the grocery store.
It looked kind of like an octopus, with a fuzzy ball and then
8 legs coming out of the bottom. They came in 2 different colors,
with this particular one being red and white.

Enfilade...

Predators often tend to have colour vision so it's no surprise she's
marked "red and white" as distinguishing her "prey of choice"

Colour is, after all, a major difference between a skunk and a gopher

Ours are less interested in colour and more attracted by motion. IE, a
toy that is moving gets attention; a toy that isn't, often doesn't.
They don't like their stuffed mouse UNLESS we're holding it up, making
the tail sway.

I have four cats, and Patty was the only one interested in the
octopus toy. I would occasionally see her carrying it around in
her mouth, but mostly it would just appear someplace. I'd walk
downstairs, and there it was. I'd walk in the kitchen, and there
it was. I'd walk upstairs, and there it was on the steps. That
octopus really got around!

Eventually the octopus developed a hole in its body and I picked up
another one at the grocery store. No red and white ones available
so I got one that was purple, green, and yellow. I threw the
old toy away, and put out the new one. Poor new octopus didn't
move an inch unless I moved it. I really thought she would enjoy
this one like she did the old one.

I donated the new octopus to a friend with kittens. Another time at the
grocery store I found another red and white one. I thought I'd give
a try, and darn if Patty didn't take to the new red and white
octopus like she had the old one. Octopus is all over the house again
and it is a pleasure to see him. I know it means that Patty is enjoying
carrying it around again :-).

Marina...

Aww, how sweet. Reminds me of Nikki and her Piggy. It does make you
wonder about how much colour they do see.

So do you think cats can see color in detail enough to prefer a red
and white octopus over a purple, green, and yellow one? Personally
I preferred the red and white one, but I didn't think it would matter to
her. Maybe purple, green, and yellow octopi smell as unattractive
as they look.

Chakolate...

Was the pattern the same? And the gradient of color saturation between
colors?

I think cats mostly see lines and shades of gray. If the color
saturation was similar on the PGY one, maybe she just didn't see much of
the pattern.

Yowie...

I wish I could tell you where, but I saw a demonstration on the 'net once
about how much colour a cat can see. The upshot was that they can see almost
all the colours that humans can see, but just not as well. The don't have
the density of cones in their eyes (colour detecting bits) that we do, so
whilst everything is in colour, it looks rather washed out and faded
compared to what we see, and there is a preference to the red end of the
spectrum, so that they see reds and yellows better than blues and greens
because they can also see into the near infrared.

But if you took black & white (and near-infrared) of the two different
octupii, they'd probably look very different. And indeed, the dyes used to
create the colours no doubt smell different too. Not to mention she can no
doubt pick up on your preference quite easily. The last possibility, and you
must always take this into account with a cat, is that she's simply messing
with your head. You never know with cats.

Debra Berry...

If they prefer the red end of the color spectrum, then I guess that
could explain
it. I definitely liked the red and white one better because I didn't
think the
yellow, purple, and green looked very good together. I didn't tell her
though.
She has lived with me almost all her life (about 3 years now) so maybe
we have
developed similar tastes :-).

Debbie
dberry@mitre.org

Debbie
dberry@mitre.org