Cross Breeds - Why can't cats see pictures?

Why can't cats see pictures?

I have 4 cats all rared from kittens, they're from 2 different litters, I also have a lot of photos of them. Whenever I bring up their photos on screen or show them a printed one on paper they just glance by it. Do they not recognise other cats in pictures? Im not saying they should think the pics a re real but they're just not interested. Why is this, can their brains not process images?

Public Comments

I think they just dont care, but my cats will watch T.V will yours
They could if they wanted to. They can't be bothered, the arrogant furry things. :-)
The brain of a cat processes images much faster than a humans and b/c of this mnay cats can't see television images and some photos. Either that or your cats just don't really care about the pictures. Don't feel bad cats always do things their way.
picture has no smell
its not interesting to them. if it moved it might be, but probabaly not. they dont care.
It's because the cat in the picture doesn't sound or smell like another cat.
When it comes to sight they can see it perfectly but cats are used to sence of smell and touch. They know their owner by smell, sound and touch more than sight.
smear tuna on them, they may not be able to process the pics but at least they will be interested :)
why would u show your cat a picture. i think u are just being a little strange. i dont think cats understand what a picture is.
They can process pictures...my kittens love watching the computer screen and tv...i think that maybe yours are just not interested in what you are showing them....I dont know?!?!
Many animals don't recogize images in that way - they see you holding a piece of paper and that's it. However, my cat watches TV (nature shows with animals, mostly) on a daily basis for 30 -60 minutes at a time. He won't always watch commercials but he will always come back to the show. I wouldn't believe anyone else telling me this story, but he definetely recognizes animals on TV ( I am guessing he sees something in their movement that tells him it's an animal, as he loves to watch big cats and whales/dolphins especially.) There was an interesting study where scientists tested chimps' abilities to recognize an image of themselves by putting a bit of paint on the chimp's face and the giving them a hand mirror. Not all of the chimps made the connection between the mirror and their face, but some of the chimps looked into the mirror and then touched their face to see what the paint was all about. Pretty cool!
We are willing to accept a soundless, scentless, 2 dimensional view, with a variation in size, or a partial view and a lack of motion as being a depiction of an cat. Because we know what a picture is. Cats brains might not be so readily fooled by such a depiction - they know that its not a cat, but they don't know that it is a picture so they don't see it as a cat or a picture of a cat.
cats and dogs are both sensitive to motion, so seeing a still shot is hard for them to process... they wouldn't need to rely on this type of computation for their survival. They also don't understand the idea of dimensions and perspective in the picture... say a tree in the distance... is actually in the distance and it's just a bunch of colors and squiggles that don't really make sense or reason to the cat. It's the same on a TV. A dog might watch the tv for a period of time if it sees another dog or hears barking, etc., but the actual picture is hard for their brains to analyze due to it coming from a box in your living room.
They can see them perfectly fine. However, cats rely on smell far more than we do - they see cats in the pictures, but since they don't smell cats, they disregard it since clearly if it doesn't smell right, it doesn't exist. That is why your cat doesn't bother looking at pictures - you'll probably find you can't get her to look in a mirror either. It's not that she can't see the image, it's just that she refuses to - smell means more than sight. Chalice
They have such sensitive eyes that they will be able to see that the picture is made of tiny squares and is therefore not real. They don't attatch any sentiment to pictures as humans do so they probably aren't bothered.
I'm pretty sure their brains can process these images, because when my cat Rocky used to get up on the computer desk, if I had an animated GIF of any kind on screen he would instantly stare, and eventually swat at the screen. He'd do the same thing to the cursor, if I moved it around -- he'd watch it and then attempt to catch it. I think it's likely that, because it doesn't move, they're not really interested in the pictures. Also, they probably wouldnt' care that there's cats in the pictures, because there's no scent. My cats don't even respond to meowing on the TV once they realize that's where it's coming from. My dog on the other hand will bark his head off if there's barking on the TV, even after he knows that's where it's coming from.
My cat watches TV all the time (like Garfield does :P). The thing with the photos is that they know they are not real and don't care.
Mine will look at anything I show them. I don't know if they recognize anything or not, but they will give it a good looking-over. They watch TV sometimes too, especially if something is moving around a lot on it, and one of my cats loves to follow the computer's mouse on the screen!
It is a 2 dimensional thing.
Its a still image. Movement often entices a cat's attention. Show it a TV show of kittens, they'll be entranced.
they can see them, they just dont care cuz theres nothing they can do about it... its not like they can turn an say to u 2oh, thats......" is it? my cat watches tv with us... his favourite is football... he watches that ball like he knows whats goin on... he even watched war films and gangster films with my bf...
Cats don't just recognize other cats by looks alone, they smell them, hear them and also look how they move (ever tried putting a mirror in front of a cat!!), so your cat probably doesnt realise that its a cat in the photo. Also some say cats cant see tv or computer screens but I have heard of a lot of cat owners that say their cats watch tv, mine does!
my cat loves pictures of herself... she will put her paw up to the paper lool