Why do cats stare at nothing? Why is my cat staring at the wall?

Have you ever gotten confused or spooked by your cat staring into space? Could a cat staring at the wall be a sign of the supernatural? If so, we’re pretty sure the above two questions have popped into your head before! Here are some reasons why our feline friends can’t stop staring into space.

Cats Have Super-Powered Hearing

Sometimes your cat is just listening to the echoes from elsewhere bouncing off the wall! Your cat’s senses are so keen. They can hear something that humans can’t hear. While we can hear sounds at frequencies between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz, cats can hear up to 64,000 Hz – your kitty-cat definitely can hear better than you! According to Animal Planet, cats can hear a sound at greater distances – four or five times farther than us. They also can detect the smallest variances in sound.

Cats Have Keen Vision

Is there a bug or a ghost? Cats can notice things that we don’t. We can’t see what our cats are looking at, so most of us may assume they are looking at something that “isn’t there”. In fact, our feline friends have much keener senses than we do!

According to Animal Planet, felines can detect motion much better than we can, and if Rachel Barrack of Animal Acupuncture is to be believed, cats may actually detect subtle motion when they appear to be staring into space.

In addition, cats also have better night vision than us as they have between six to eight times more rod cells, which are especially useful in low light conditions in their eyes than we do. Your cat may see things that are invisible to humans such as tiny bugs on the wall! According to DailyMail, researchers found that cats, dogs and other mammals can see ultraviolet light. The lens of our eyes block ultraviolet light, but in our feline friends’ UV-transparent lenses, ultraviolet light reaches the retina and the light will be converted into nerve signals that travel to the brain where the visual system perceives them.

By realizing your cat has much keener hearing and vision than you, these seemingly bizarre behaviors will gradually make more sense to you. So take a deep breath, stow away those ghost detectors and night vision goggles, and go give your cat a big hug for only doing what any cat should be doing — freaking people out!