Fun facts about dog and cat senses

Just like humans, cats and dogs use their senses to understand their surroundings. Check out these fun facts about how different their senses are!

Read time: 2 minutes

Smell

Dogs have 100 million odor senses. The area of their brain dedicated to analyzing odors is 40 times larger than that of a human brain.

Cats have 200 million odor senses. Their noses are very sensitive — and sense of smell is 14 times better than humans.
Taste

Dogs have 1,709 taste buds and can detect sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory. Their sense of taste is quite similar to humans.

Cats have 473 taste buds and can mostly detect only sour and bitter. Their most powerful response to food is through smell.
Touch

Most dogs love a good pet and scratch, especially on the chest and behind their ears. But most don’t like when you touch their paws.

A cat’s whiskers are major sensory agents – they can notice changes in the environment, like air pressure, temperature and even wind direction.
Hearing

Dogs have 15 muscles in their ears and can move them one at a time, giving them the ability to absorb more information.

A cat’s ears have 27 muscles. They know where sound is coming from based on when the sound arrives and how intense it is.
Sight

Dogs can see all colors except those in red and green tones. Their night vision is better than ours thanks to the reflective layer in their eyes.

Cats see mostly in green and blue ranges. The location of their eyes helps them know how long they have to leap to catch prey.