Is my cat albino ?

Cat Person said:

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 .

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Nekochan said:

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

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Cat Person said:

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

.

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Arlyn said:

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

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nerdrock said:

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

.

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Cat Person said:

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

.

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Nekochan said:

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."

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nurseholly34 said:

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!!! 

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nurseholly34 said:

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

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nerdrock said:

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 ).

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Brandy-Neka said:

I can't believe no ones mentioned a purple eyed albino yet... Are there any cats with purple eyes that you guys know of (other than in books?), I would LOVE to see one. =))

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