Is my cat albino ?

He's a beautiful cat

I don't think he is albino, but since he is white he needs to stay out of the sun.  He is adorable by the way:)

To the best of my knowledge, an albino mammal must have pink eyes. I know this is true of birds and reptiles. I also know it is true of smaller rodent type mammals such as: mice, rats, hedgehogs, and so on. This is a website, that seems to indicate my suspicions are correct:http://www.messybeast.com/whitecat.htm.

No it is not but he is beautiful, he also looks alot like one of my boy.  Is he deaf?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cat Person 

To the best of my knowledge, an albino mammal must have pink eyes. I know this is true of birds and reptiles. I also know it is true of smaller rodent type mammals such as: mice, rats, hedgehogs, and so on. This is a website, that seems to indicate my suspicions are correct:http://www.messybeast.com/whitecat.htm.

He is a beautiful cat.   I agree with Mattie about the eyes.  Albino people have pink eyes, which are very sensitive to light.  I had a pair of albino mice, and they too had pink/red eyes.

Not all albinos have pink eyes.

The pointed gene (as in Siamese) is a form of albinism as well, and there are true albinos with blue eyes, but the eyes of those are a very pale blue, like ice.

I'd say your kitten is pointed, given the deep blue eyes, and will likely darken slightly to a flame, or cream point.

Lovely kitty, crossed eyes and all.

I agree with Arlyn. He is a beauty! Your vet may be able to test him to see if he IS a true albino, in case you need to know (there are sometimes genetice illnesses, defects with true albinos).

What a handsome blue-eyed boy!! 

He's gorgeous!  He has crossed eyes and my first thought was that he has some Siamese in his background.  Pretty boy!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by amyevy 

His mom is Siamese but he is like 3 to 4 months so I dont think his fur is gonna change, his sister was Siamese and the other two in the litter were black

I got my cat when she was 10 months old, she's a siamese mix. She has areas that were white when I got here that are now a light tan colour, so you never know how much he might change as he gets older :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by amyevy 

His mom is Siamese but he is like 3 to 4 months so I dont think his fur is gonna change, his sister was Siamese and the other two in the litter were black

Pointed cats take 2-4 years for their coat colors to fully come in.

The pointed gene form of partial albinism makes coat color dependent on temperature. Warmer areas in the body are lighter than cooler areas, this is also why pointed cats are born white.

Pointed cats in cooler climates also tend to get darker than an identical cat in a warm climate.

Here are some pictures as example, these are both seal point, so you can really see just how much the coat darkens.

This cat is just a bit over 12 months in this picture

Same cat at 2 years of age

Different cat @4 months

Same cat @11months

Are you saying the cat in the photo is 3-4 months old? In that case it is possible he might be a red pointed cat (aka "flame point" in common pet terms) or cream pointed cat whose color has just not darkened yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gypsyvanners 

he is not albino. all albinos are white with RED eyes! he is cute!

Actually this NOT true. Albinos can have blue eyes as well as red or pink...

However blue-eyed white non-albino cats are not uncommon and actually there is a color type seen in Siamese where they are white with blue eyes, called "foreign white".

Info here on albino cats:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1464423/

Info on blue-eyed white Siamese:

http://www.balinesen.ch/whites.htm

Quote:

Originally Posted by nurseangel 

He is a beautiful cat.   I agree with Mattie about the eyes.  Albino people have pink eyes, which are very sensitive to light.  I had a pair of albino mice, and they too had pink/red eyes.

 

 

Thank you for your input. I do have to ask, how did you find out what my name is? I do not mind, just very curious.

A true albino mammal have red eyes. I am speaking from a scientific point of view. Not a breeder or whatever other point of view anyone cares to speak of. Here are some articles on Albino Cats (domestic and wild) and Leucistic Cats (blue eyed white) of both domestic and wild origin: http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/lions-white.htm , http://www.tenset.co.uk/catgen/catsofadifferentcolor.html#6_4 , http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1464423/ , and http://www.messybeast.com/whitecat.htm .

Since you reference messybeast, I shall too.

Bold added in quote for emphasis.

taken from http://www.messybeast.com/gene-anomalies.htm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arlyn 

Since you reference messybeast, I shall too.

 

 

Bold added in quote for emphasis.

 

taken from http://www.messybeast.com/gene-anomalies.htm

Wow, that was a very neat article. I just learned something new, thank you .

Albinism is a very interesting subject :)

I still think OPs kitten is pointed though, likely cream or flame, be interesting to see comparison photos in a few months :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cat Person 

A true albino mammal have red eyes. I am speaking from a scientific point of view. Not a breeder or whatever other point of view anyone cares to speak of. Here are some articles on Albino Cats (domestic and wild) and Leucistic Cats (blue eyed white) of both domestic and wild origin: http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/lions-white.htm , http://www.tenset.co.uk/catgen/catsofadifferentcolor.html#6_4 , http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1464423/ , and http://www.messybeast.com/whitecat.htm .

Actually no, albinos can have pale blue eyes as well. There are different forms/types of albinism. I am speaking from a biology background.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nekochan 

Actually no, albinos can have pale blue eyes as well. There are different forms/types of albinism. I am speaking from a biology background.

 

I have a B.S. in biology. I have breed many exotic mammals (hedgehogs, sugar gliders, mice, rats,) exotic birds (over 20 species and a 150 color mutations) and reptiles and amphibians. I have never heard of or seen a true albino like you describe.

Care to enlighten me? I wish you would .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cat Person 

I have a B.S. in biology. I have breed many exotic mammals (hedgehogs, sugar gliders, mice, rats,) exotic birds (over 20 species and a 150 color mutations) and reptiles and amphibians. I have never heard of or seen a true albino like you describe.

 

Care to enlighten me? I wish you would .

 

I personally know of two albinos (human) that have very light blue eyes, very blue/grey like ice - kinda creepy to be honest, lol. 

Have you studied albinism specifically? I don't mean that to sound offense or anything, so please don't take it that way. I just know that when you study a broad spectrum subject (as an example, biology) you don't necessarily get the specific information on a specific subject (eg. albinism) because there is so much to cover in a short period of time. As an example, one of my friends studied genetics in university but has since gone on to write a series of books on a specific breed of dogs (dachshunds) where the genetics are different than what she had previously studied (I did some of the drawings for one of the ones that's been released :)).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arlyn 

Albinism is a very interesting subject :)

 

I still think OPs kitten is pointed though, likely cream or flame, be interesting to see comparison photos in a few months :)

I very much agree. Anything, you care to share with me would be great . I love to learn new things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nerdrock 

I personally know of two albinos (human) that have very light blue eyes, very blue/grey like ice - kinda creepy to be honest, lol. 

 

I did actually have a friend who was albino. I do mean albino human. Now that you say that, he had very different colored eyes. They looked pink to me. But, now that you say that, I remember him having gray (if you ask me ) coloured eyes when seen in natural light.  He was so light sensitive, he normally always wore sun glasses (inside and out).

 

Have you studied albinism specifically?

 

Nope. But, I am starting to wish I did. It seems to be a very interesting subject .

 

I don't mean that to sound offense or anything, so please don't take it that way.

 

I am NOT offended.

 

I just know that when you study a broad spectrum subject (as an example, biology) you don't necessarily get the specific information on a specific subject (eg. albinism) because there is so much to cover in a short period of time.

 

That is very very very true. It is very disappointing, in my humble opinion too.

 

As an example, one of my friends studied genetics in university but has since gone on to write a series of books on a specific breed of dogs (dachshunds) where the genetics are different than what she had previously studied (I did some of the drawings for one of the ones that's been released :)).

 

Wow, that is cool that you had a friend that studied that subject. I was thinking that the "other" type of albinism was not that common in cats (non red eyed albino). But, when I think of it, I only saw one specific line of Bengals that where red eyed albino. I have worked with a thousand or so, non-pedigreed cats. But, I have never seen a red eyed albino. I might have seen a blue eyed albino and NOT KNOWN IT. Do you know how to differentiate a blue eyed white from a blue eyed albino? If not, I am going to start to research that topic. Yep, no life .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cat Person 

I have a B.S. in biology. I have breed many exotic mammals (hedgehogs, sugar gliders, mice, rats,) exotic birds (over 20 species and a 150 color mutations) and reptiles and amphibians. I have never heard of or seen a true albino like you describe.

 

Care to enlighten me? I wish you would .

 

So do I...I'm working on my M.A.

Here is some info from a research study on albino cats:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1464423/

Quote from there:

"Blue-eyed vs. pink-eyed albino cats have not been clearly distinguished in the published reports (Bamber & Herdman 1931; Todd 1951; Leventhal 1982; Leventhal et al. 1985). Thus, it is unclear whether there is more than one non temperature-sensitive albinism allele in cats, as has been reported in mice (reviewed in Beermann et al. 2004), in humans (summarized at http://albinismdb.med.umn.edu/) and in cattle (Schmutz et al. 2004). The albino cats evaluated in this study have blue eyes. As with most blue-eyed cats, reduced pigment in the tapetum produces a ‘reddish’ (as opposed to a ‘greenish’) tapetal reflection or ‘eye-shine’. The c allele has been reserved for red-eyed (complete) albinism, but the difference in the tapetal reflex suggests that the single report of a red-eyed albino cat may be in error."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nekochan 

So do I...I'm working on my M.A.

Here is some info from a research study on albino cats:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1464423/

 

Quote from there:

"Blue-eyed vs. pink-eyed albino cats have not been clearly distinguished in the published reports (Bamber & Herdman 1931; Todd 1951; Leventhal 1982; Leventhal et al. 1985). Thus, it is unclear whether there is more than one non temperature-sensitive albinism allele in cats, as has been reported in mice (reviewed in Beermann et al. 2004), in humans (summarized at http://albinismdb.med.umn.edu/) and in cattle (Schmutz et al. 2004). The albino cats evaluated in this study have blue eyes. As with most blue-eyed cats, reduced pigment in the tapetum produces a ‘reddish’ (as opposed to a ‘greenish’) tapetal reflection or ‘eye-shine’. The c allele has been reserved for red-eyed (complete) albinism, but the difference in the tapetal reflex suggests that the single report of a red-eyed albino cat may be in error."

Great link, very very interesting. What is your M.A. going to be in? My M.A, is education. It is great for my job, but has NOTHING to do with my personal interests. But, I am very glad to have a job. So, no complaints.

I recently had a cat come up to my porch and hung around a few days, and immediately i brought her inside to live when the Vet verified she was albino!!  She is the purest of white, with all her skin thats visible a pale pink, and has red glassy eyes with a ring or icey white blue around the edges.  She is deaf though.  She can feel vibrations of loud voices and footsteps, but she wont look at you when you call her name.  poor thing.  Her name is Poo, and she is my sweetie!!! 

and she is in HEAT!!!!   she is backing that behind up to every object in the house!!! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by nurseholly34 

I recently had a cat come up to my porch and hung around a few days, and immediately i brought her inside to live when the Vet verified she was albino!!  She is the purest of white, with all her skin thats visible a pale pink, and has red glassy eyes with a ring or icey white blue around the edges.  She is deaf though.  She can feel vibrations of loud voices and footsteps, but she wont look at you when you call her name.  poor thing.  Her name is Poo, and she is my sweetie!!! 

uote:

Originally Posted by nurseholly34 

and she is in HEAT!!!!   she is backing that behind up to every object in the house!!! 

Please, O PLEASE, post a photo. I would LOVE to see a picture of her. Ideally, many! Are you going to have her spayed?

Thanks!