Do Animals Need Glasses? | Smartest Year Ever (Mar 11, 2025)
About this episode
Can dogs and cats be nearsighted? Do they ever need glasses? 🧐 Today, Gordy dives into the fascinating world of animal eyesight—from the blurry vision of your golden retriever to the night-vision superpowers of your cat. Learn why humans are the real outliers when it comes to bad vision, which animals actually develop nearsightedness, and why you’ll probably never see a dog struggling to read the fine print on his kibble bag.
🔍 Topics Covered:
Why animals rarely need glasses 👓
How dogs and cats actually see the world
Which animals have the most insane eyesight (eagles 🦅, mantis shrimp 🦐)
The real reason humans have so many vision problems
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📚 Sources:Miller, P. E., & Murphy, C. J. (1995). "Vision in Dogs and Cats." Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice.Neitz, J., Geist, T., & Jacobs, G. H. (1989). "Color Vision in the Dog." Visual Neuroscience.American Veterinary Medical Association. "Common Eye Problems in Pets."Land, M. F., & Nilsson, D. E. (2012). Animal Eyes. Oxford University Press.
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