What Color Eyes Can Cats Have?
Cats possess some of the best eye traits. They can have beautiful eyes with shades of blue, yellow, and green, just to name a few. Additionally, different cats can have rare eye color combinations depending on their breed or any health conditions they might have.
Let us get deeper into the different cat eye colors and focus on why it happens.
Parts Of The Eye
When considering different hues of a cat’s eye, it is necessary to know where the color is located. Color is located in the iris, a pigmented part of a cat’s eyeball that encircles the pupil.
Additionally, it controls the size of the pupil, therefore, the amount of light entering the eye.
The iris consists of two layers: the foremost layer, which is the stroma, and the second one, which is the epithelial cell layer. The opacity of their pigments in the iris is what defines the eye color in cats and humans.
Iris Color
The iris color of the eye is made up of two components: pigments and the sphincter pupillae. The sphincter pupillae is a muscle that helps in the contraction of the pupil and is present on the surface of the iris. The more visible the sphincter muscle, the more color the eye will possess. The eye color also has a chance of being brown in case the muscle is very hard to see.
Let’s take a deep dive. The eye is made up of components that control its color and the pigment of color dioptrics. Having brown or pink as the base color will result in a lot more combining eyes because the genes are the dominant types. An individual with blue eyes will have only one set of genotypes present in them causing them not to have the ability to mix other sets of genotype and thus restricting their fusion.
True Eye Color
Kittens are not born with their actual eye color. Rather, they are born with closed eyes and only open around 8 to 12 days. During the initial stage until they are 6 weeks, they possess blue eyes. Subsequently, the color of the iris shifts to the cat’s actual eye color.
Usually, children have the color of the eye set up permanently by 3 or 4 months. This information can also prove important if an unknowing individual needs to determine the age of the kitten.
Cats’ Eyes: A Palette Of Different Colors And Patterns
Since we have already covered the area where color is produced in the eye (iris) and how it is produced (melanin production), let’s now move towards the most fascinating part – we can observe a variety of colors in our cats’ eyes. There may be many colors which look close to one another, but in this case I will talk about main colors which are very easy to see and identify.
Yellow/Orange/Amber/Golden.
Compared to blue and green eye colors, yellow or orange irises have higher melanin production and activity. This can vary from a bright yellow to a deeper golden color depending on the amount of melanin in the iris.
In my opinion, this is probably one of the most Commom eye colors and it can occur in cats of any color. The melanin can result in different shades but brown is arguably the most common eye color, making it remarkable.
Copper
The rarest cat eye color is copper. This color is most closely described as deep orange, mixed with a hint of brown. This eye color can be seen in some British Shorthair cats, though very rarely. This specific deep orange color is said to be the darkest eye color on cats, with many people claiming it to be quite astonishing upon viewing.
Green
A cat’s iris contains some melanin, which is why certain cats have green eyes. Green is a color defective trait which means it is possible for certain pedigree cat breeds to possess green irises such as the Egyptian Mau and the Russian Blue cats.
It is also possible that a cat with a black coat, which usually contains an abundance of melanin, can have an iris with little melanin, which results in green eyes. Moreover, cats with any color coat can possess green irises unlike humans.
Blue Eyes
As mentioned, kittens’ eyes are blue until the age of six weeks when the eye pigmentation starts to change. However, there are some cats that will have blue eyes for the rest of their lives.
The amount of melanin present in a person’s eyes is directly proportional to how dark the eyes will be. Thus, cats with blue eyes have no melanin in their irises. It is not unusual for some pedigree breeds like Siamese cats and Ragdolls to have this eye color.
Different Colored Eyes
Have you ever seen a cat with two different colored eyes? Well, it’s referred to as complete heterochromia and occurs in the whole cat family but is especially prevalent in white coated cats.
It’s also known as an odd-eyed cat. One eye could be blue and the other could look like yellow. The two irises of the eyes have varying levels of melanin. It is much more frequent in white cats as it is associated with the W white gene.
Dichromatic Cats
Some cats are dichromatic because their irises can posses two colors. For instance, a cat may have one iris that is colored green and yellow mixed together, or another with blue and green.
Red Eyes
Even though cats do not have visibly red eyes, felines having blue eyes that possess no melanin will show red eye reflection in dark photographs as light reflects off the back of their eye (tapetum lucidum). Non-blue-eyed cats, on the other hand, will glow green or yellow when photographed.
Things to Consider Regarding Health
While most people do not suffer from harmful illness with regards to eye color, there are a few things which are worth noting.
You may have heard that white cats with blue eyes are prone to being deaf and it does have some degree of accuracy. White cats that have a W gene for white coat tend to be at risk of having inherited congenital deafness, especially in those with one or two blue eyes. White cats with two blue eyes are around 3-5 times more likely to be deaf compared to cats with two non-blue eyes. For white dogs, BAER testing can be done to check for cats that carry the W gene, like why you are BAER for them.
Pure bred cats with copper colored eyes can be normal and the eye color may be related to the breed, such as the British Shorthair. In contrast, some cats with copper colored eyes may make your vet consider a liver shunt, also known as portosystemic shunt. There will usually be other symptoms that accompany copper colored eyes such as failure to thrive, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, disorientation, and seizures. If you fear your cat has any of these symptoms, do not hesitate to call your veterinarian for an appointment.
Are Eye Color And Coat Color Related?
Despite the fact that melanin is responsible for both coat and eye colors, in cats these traits do not necessarily correlate as they do in humans. Over here, it means that a cat may have a dark melanin-rich coat, for instance, black. However, it may also have green eyes that are low in melanin.
This is also true in white colored cats, which as analyzed previously, are W gene carriers which account for the white coat and the high probability of blue eyes. In this situation, white colored coats are linked to blue eyes and deafness.
Do Cats Eyes Change Color?
Kittens are born with blue eyes and these usually starts changing color between 6 weeks to 4 months. During this period, a color change is normal. But anything after that and it indicates some medical complication.
If you have encountered a situation where the color of one or both eyes has changed, that could need immediate attention. Some factors that could change eye color are trauma, system problems, or eye tumours.
As already stated that trauma, viral infections, and bacterial infections are a big problem to deal with. Some common side effects would include redness, blood in the eye, inflammation, or increase in intraocular pressure (glaucoma), hyphema to name a few.
Some other systemic problems are increased blood pressure, diabetes, or retinal detachment which are the root problem to cataracts or an even more severe pupil dilation.
Eye tumors of the iris are often caused by the change in color in the iris which may restrict the eye from getting sufficient light, potentially enlarging or deforming the eyeball.
Eye problems that can be associated with cats can be extensive, and that is a whole other article itself, but in the simplest terms, if your cat suffers from any color change in the iris or eyeball, any alteration in size of the pupil (including non-symmetrical pupils), any increase in eyeball size, ocular discharge, and or eye pain, I would recommend that you take your cat to the vet.
It is not unusual to see different eye colors in a kitten past the age of six weeks, but a color change in an adult cat is definitely abnormal and needs attention from a vet.
FAQS
1. What are the most common eye colors in cats?
- Learn about the typical eye colors seen in cats, like green, amber, and blue, and what breeds tend to have each of these colors.
2. Can a cat have different colored eyes?
- Explore the fascinating world of heterochromia, where a cat has two eyes of different colors, and what causes this condition.
3. What does a cat’s eye color say about its health?
- Discover how a cat’s eye color can sometimes indicate underlying health issues and what changes in their eyes could be a cause for concern.
4. Are certain eye colors more common in specific cat breeds?
- Find out which breeds tend to have unique eye colors, such as the striking blue eyes of Siamese cats or the golden eyes of Persians.
5. Do kittens’ eye colors change as they grow?
- Uncover how kitten eye colors can evolve as they age, transitioning from blue to their permanent color around 3 to 6 months of age.
6. What causes a cat’s eyes to look so bright and vibrant?
- Learn about the anatomical features and biological factors behind why some cats’ eyes seem to shine or glow, especially in low light.
7. Can a cat’s eye color affect its vision?
- Delve into whether a cat’s eye color has any impact on its vision abilities, and why certain colors may be more adaptive in different lighting conditions.
Also Read: The Truth About Down Syndrome in Cats: Myths, Facts, and Genetic Differences
