Do dogs and cats see in black and white?

No. Dogs and cats have two types of cone, so they see color, and so do deer, horses and cattle. Blue and yellow stay distinct for them, but red and green are hard to tell apart by hue. That is similar in kind to red-green color blindness in people, but with their own cone peaks. Each of those animal pages has a simulator. (Neitz, Geist and Jacobs, 1989; Guenther and Zrenner, 1993; Jacobs and colleagues, 1994 and 1998; Carroll and colleagues, 2001)

Which animals see ultraviolet?

Of the animals here, bees, some birds, mice and rats; the housefly’s color vision is not covered here. In a study of 43 species of bees, wasps and their relatives, most had a receptor for ultraviolet, and the budgerigar has a cone that peaks in the near ultraviolet. Mice and rats have two types of cone, one for ultraviolet and one for green. Dogs, cats and people have no ultraviolet cone. Still, the lens of a dog, cat or cow lets some ultraviolet through, so they are probably sensitive to it, while the lens of an adult person or a horse blocks nearly all of it. (Peitsch et al., 1992; Goldsmith and Butler, 2005; Jacobs, Fenwick and Williams, 2001; Jacobs, Williams and Fenwick, 2004; Douglas and Jeffery, 2014)

Do birds see more colors than people?

Very likely. The birds studied, such as the budgerigar, have four types of single cone where we have three, so their colors have one more dimension than ours. For a bird, green with ultraviolet and green without it are different colors; to us they look the same. Wild hummingbirds tell such mixtures apart, for example ultraviolet plus green or ultraviolet plus red. (Hart, 2001; Stoddard et al., 2020)

How animals see color

Dogs, cats, deer, horses and cattle have two types of cone (color-sensing cells), where people have three. Blue and yellow stay clear; red, orange and green can look much alike.
Mice and rats also have two types, but theirs catch ultraviolet and green. Dolphins have one type of cone and cuttlefish one visual pigment, so they most likely see no hues.
Birds studied, such as the budgerigar, have four types of cone; in some, the fourth reaches into ultraviolet, which we cannot see.
Bees and their relatives: in a study of 43 species, most had receptors for ultraviolet, blue and green.

One scene through their eyes

A drawn scene, not a photo. Each picture models only how that animal’s color receptors respond and how sharp its sight is, as the simulator on its page does: the housefly picture shows only the blur, and the cuttlefish picture only the colors.

Try it on your own photo

The pictures of every animal above except birds, side by side, and a card to share. Nothing is uploaded.

Animal vision: questions

Do dogs and cats see in black and white?: No. Dogs and cats have two types of cone, so they see color, and so do deer, horses and cattle. Blue and yellow stay distinct for them, but red and green are hard to tell apart by hue. That is similar in kind to red-green color blindness in people, but with their own cone peaks. Each of those animal pages has a simulator. (Neitz, Geist and Jacobs, 1989; Guenther and Zrenner, 1993; Jacobs and colleagues, 1994 and 1998; Carroll and colleagues, 2001)
Which animals see ultraviolet?: Of the animals here, bees, some birds, mice and rats; the housefly’s color vision is not covered here. In a study of 43 species of bees, wasps and their relatives, most had a receptor for ultraviolet, and the budgerigar has a cone that peaks in the near ultraviolet. Mice and rats have two types of cone, one for ultraviolet and one for green. Dogs, cats and people have no ultraviolet cone. Still, the lens of a dog, cat or cow lets some ultraviolet through, so they are probably sensitive to it, while the lens of an adult person or a horse blocks nearly all of it. (Peitsch et al., 1992; Goldsmith and Butler, 2005; Jacobs, Fenwick and Williams, 2001; Jacobs, Williams and Fenwick, 2004; Douglas and Jeffery, 2014)
Do birds see more colors than people?: Very likely. The birds studied, such as the budgerigar, have four types of single cone where we have three, so their colors have one more dimension than ours. For a bird, green with ultraviolet and green without it are different colors; to us they look the same. Wild hummingbirds tell such mixtures apart, for example ultraviolet plus green or ultraviolet plus red. (Hart, 2001; Stoddard et al., 2020)

Sources

Neitz J., Geist T., Jacobs G. H. (1989). Color vision in the dog. Visual Neuroscience 3(2), 119–125. DOI
Guenther E., Zrenner E. (1993). The spectral sensitivity of dark- and light-adapted cat retinal ganglion cells. Journal of Neuroscience 13(4), 1543–1550. DOI
Jacobs G. H., Deegan J. F., Neitz J., Murphy B. P., Miller K. V., Marchinton R. L. (1994). Electrophysiological measurements of spectral mechanisms in the retinas of two cervids: white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and fallow deer (Dama dama). Journal of Comparative Physiology A 174(5), 551–557. DOI
Jacobs G. H., Deegan J. F., Neitz J. (1998). Photopigment basis for dichromatic color vision in cows, goats, and sheep. Visual Neuroscience 15(3), 581–584. DOI
Carroll J., Murphy C. J., Neitz M., Ver Hoeve J. N., Neitz J. (2001). Photopigment basis for dichromatic color vision in the horse. Journal of Vision 1(2), 80–87. DOI
Peitsch D., Fietz A., Hertel H., de Souza J., Ventura D. F., Menzel R. (1992). The spectral input systems of hymenopteran insects and their receptor-based colour vision. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 170(1), 23–40. DOI
Goldsmith T. H., Butler B. K. (2005). Color vision of the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus): hue matches, tetrachromacy, and intensity discrimination. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 191(10), 933–951. DOI
Jacobs G. H., Fenwick J. A., Williams G. A. (2001). Cone-based vision of rats for ultraviolet and visible lights. Journal of Experimental Biology 204(14), 2439–2446. Read in the abstract only. DOI
Jacobs G. H., Williams G. A., Fenwick J. A. (2004). Influence of cone pigment coexpression on spectral sensitivity and color vision in the mouse. Vision Research 44(14), 1615–1622. Read in the abstract only. DOI
Douglas R. H., Jeffery G. (2014). The spectral transmission of ocular media suggests ultraviolet sensitivity is widespread among mammals. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 281(1780), 20132995. DOI
Hart N. S. (2001). The visual ecology of avian photoreceptors. Progress in Retinal and Eye Research 20(5), 675–703. DOI
Stoddard M. C., Eyster H. N., Hogan B. G., Morris D. H., Soucy E. R., Inouye D. W. (2020). Wild hummingbirds discriminate nonspectral colors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117(26), 15112–15122. DOI