Many of us pet lovers want to “do something” when we suspect our pet is feeling poorly.  We scan the internet for advice and decide to try something different in our pet’s routine, maybe a new supplement or practice or whatever the most popular pet expert is suggesting today. While this can lead to beneficial results, often we get so overwhelmed or so hopeful that we embrace theories and therapies including color related ones that are distracting, expensive and have negligible results.

Color therapy or chromotherapy addresses the influence color has on humans and originated as early as 200BC with the Greeks. Elaborated on through the years, since the19th century these same theories are being applied to our pets. Below is a rather simplified but generally agreed upon list of colors and their associated influences:

RED              Physically linked to arthritis, bladder and colon. Mentally linked to courage, energy and security.

ORANGE    Physically linked to lower spine and reproductive system. Mentally linked to creativity, confidence and emotions.   

YELLOW     Physically linked to digestive system. Mentally linked to energy, self-esteem and playfulness.

GREEN       Physically linked to heart, asthma, weight. Mentally linked to love, balance and relationships.

BLUE            Physically linked to throat, voice and mouth. Mentally linked to communication and self-expression.

INDIGO       Physically linked to headaches, sight and hearing issues. Mentally linked to intuition, calming and inner wisdom.

VIOLET        Physically linked to brain and nervous system. Mentally linked to spirituality, inspiration and self-image.

Although I appreciate the thoughts and conjectures of the above color theories, I question their significance when applied to cats and dogs who have quite literally, different vision than human beings. Because of the physical structure of their eyes, cats and dogs do not see the world of color the same way humans do. Dogs can only see shades of blue and yellow.  The rest of their world consists of muted shades of grayish browns. They cannot see red, orange, indigo or violet, and greens melt into the brown/gray field of vision.  Cats see only shades of blue and green with all other colors fading into greys and browns. Our pets simply do not have the photoreceptors in their eyes to see the same range of colors that humans can see.

I want to believe that my dog sees the same vibrant world that I do, and I want to think she prances with a bit more energy when she wears her cheerful red bandanna.  It makes me feel peppy, but does it actually do anything for her?  Color therapists insist that putting an ill animal on a pink blanket makes their healing easier as pink is a “healing color.” Really?  How would cats or dogs (who cannot see the color pink) know the difference, and how would that be communicated to us?

Thinking that I might be missing something important, I decided to contact a “Color Therapist” for animals.  I visited her website and had a virtual chat with her. I asked her how color therapy works for dogs and cats since they see so few colors.  Her response was that she “…uses color therapy by focusing on the energy and vibration each color gives off not just visual impact. Even if pets can’t see certain colors, they can still sense the energy those colors emit.”  I then asked if she had any actual proof of her conjecture and she said her “approach is based on holistic and intuitive practices not conventional science.” She then suggested I schedule a session so I could have “a firsthand sense of the experience.”  Sorry, but we were talking about color therapy for dogs so a firsthand experience is something only my dog can have. And that is the problem. As far as I can tell, all of our theories about color are shaped around our human ability to see colors not our pets.

It’s a given that we love our dogs and we love our cats, but they are not little humans who can see every color in the rainbow. Another color therapist said we do not have to see a color to experience its vibrational effect. If true, that might explain how color can affect a cat or dog without being visible to them. But I think human color therapists are confusing color with light. Light is electromagnetic energy and indeed has wave lengths and produces energy. Color is our perception of light and is influenced by the physical structure of our eyes and our brain’s ability to decode what the eyes see. Our pets cannot physically see or mentally interpret the range of colors humans can, so claiming healing powers for any particular color is ambiguous at best for our pets.

Although the influence of color on humans is well-documented, it may be a false correlation to ascribe a similar set of theories to our cats and dogs. All cat and dog lovers crave a deeper understanding with our pets, but that longing should be based on clear thinking and verifiable evidence. It is difficult to separate claims for the effects of color on cats and dogs that are supported by accurate scientific data from claims based on human traditions, intuition and wishful thinking.  But for the sake of our pets’ health and our valuable time and money, pet parents would be wise to focus on objective healing modalities that really work.