Cats have always fascinated humans – but if there’s one thing that truly catches our eyes, it’s the cat’s eyes. There’s just so hypnotizing about them. They’re so big, expressive and colorful. Today let’s learn about what makes them so colorful and which type of cat eye color is the rarest.
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Why so colorful?
Just like with any animal, genetics plays a role in what the color of the cat’s eyes is. The genes determine how high the level of melanin is in the pigment of a cat’s eyes, skin, and fur. The higher the level of melanin, the darker their fur and eyes are – but it doesn’t mean that dark cats have dark eyes always or that lighter cats will always have lighter eyes. Melanin affects a cat’s fur and eye color differently.
Cats are born with their eyes closed. After a few weeks, their eyes will start to open revealing blue eyes – but this eye color is not always permanent. This is because kittens need a bit more time until the melanocyte cells in their eyes start to function normally. As they grow older, their colors could start to change. Their true eye colors will be revealed around the 4th month of their life.
It has been observed that the most common eye color among feral cats is hazel. Domestic cat eyes range between yellow, copper, orange, green and blue.
Melanin levels = what color
Cats with no melanin present in their irises will keep their blue eyes. More often than not, cats who have white fur have blue eyes – although this is not mutually exclusive. It must be noted that usually, cats who have blue eyes are deaf on the side that has the blue eye.
Green-eyed cats have very little melanin in their eyes. There are some cat breeds that are known for their piercing emerald eyes: The Chinchilla Persian, Tonkinese, Egyptian Mau, and Russian Blues – although cats who don’t belong to these breeds could also have green eyes.
The eye color most people would think of when they think of cat eyes are Yellow or Orange. These cats have high levels of melanin in their eyes. This is probably the most common eye color for cats. Most depictions of black cats have glowing yellow eyes.
Multicolored eyes
For some cats, one eye color is not enough. There are some who have a different eye color on each of their eyes. Cats who have two different colored eyeballs have heterochromia. This happens when the cat’s genes block the distribution of melanin to one of their irises. Cats can have heterochromia naturally or through illness, injury, or as a medication side effect. Odd eyed cats are usually white. They’ll probably have one blue eye and the other would be more colorful.
The breeds who are more prone to having heterochromia are Persians, Sphinxes, Oriental Shorthairs, Turkish Vans, Turkish Angoras and Japanese bobtails.
Dichromatic eyed cats have two colors in one eye. It would look as if their irises were cut in half with one side being one color and the other a different color. Cats with multiple eye colors are very rare – but the rarest are cats who have Dichromatic eyes.
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Common questions about cat eyes
Is every white cat with blue eyes albino?
Sometimes it can be really hard to distinguish white cats from albino cats. Albinism is a condition where an animal has no melanin in their bodies. Albino cats always have white fur and blue eyes – but so can normal white cats. The biggest difference you’ll find between a white cat with blue eyes and an albino cat is how blue their eyes are. Albino cats will have very pale blue eyes, or very rarely, pink. If your white cat has bright blue eyes, they’re not albino.
Are there health problems linked to cat eye colors?
Blue-eyed cats are often deaf on the side that has the blue eye – however this is not always the case. Albino cats with pale blue eyes, or even pink eyes, usually have a vision problem and have sunburns quickly because they are very sensitive to light. If your cat abnormally changes eye color, on one eye or both, could be caused by diabetes, high blood pressure, eye trauma, tumor, infection or a viral disease like FIV. In this case, please take your cat to the vet.
Why do cat eyes glow in the dark?
Some animals like dogs, deer, and cats look like they have glowing eyes when they’re I the dark. What their eyes are actually doing is they’re reflecting light through their eyes – like how the moon reflects the sun’s light. This is how cats can see so well in the dark. Their eyes have twice the chance of using the information in the light as humans do.
😻 Video: What do you call a cat with two different colored eyes?
Conclusion
Every cat is special – especially with them having those big colorful eyes. Some cats have special rare sets of peepers. The rarest type having multiple colors in one set, either one color per eye, or two in one.
