Albino or not?????

herethengone

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Hello all:
I have a beautiful white cat that i beleive is a true albino although she does have some Siamese in her. She has very gorgeous pale blue eyes and not a hint of any color other than white in her fur at all. Also her eyes do have a large red/pink tinge when turned even slightly from straight on. The fur on her head seems thin and she seems to shed more than any other cat I have ever owned(even the longhaired ones). However I have been told that most Albino cats are deaf and she definitely is not, you should see her tear to her room when the words "Let's go eat" are spoken. Yes she has her own bedroom (spoiled little kitch ain't she:p). Anyways can anyone tell me if this sounds like albinism or simply a white siamese???? Oh yes her mother was also white but she was the only pure white kitten in the litter. After a year she still gets together with a couple of her sisters occasionally and is by far the heavyweight champion of the batch kicking ass wherever she goes; feel sorry for the first Tom to try and bag her. I'll try to post a pic or two as soon as I can steal a digital cam.
 

commonoddity042

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Originally Posted by herethengone

Hello all:
I have a beautiful white cat that i beleive is a true albino although she does have some Siamese in her. She has very gorgeous pale blue eyes and not a hint of any color other than white in her fur at all. Also her eyes do have a large red/pink tinge when turned even slightly from straight on. The fur on her head seems thin and she seems to shed more than any other cat I have ever owned(even the longhaired ones). However I have been told that most Albino cats are deaf and she definitely is not, you should see her tear to her room when the words "Let's go eat" are spoken. Yes she has her own bedroom (spoiled little kitch ain't she:p). Anyways can anyone tell me if this sounds like albinism or simply a white siamese???? Oh yes her mother was also white but she was the only pure white kitten in the litter. After a year she still gets together with a couple of her sisters occasionally and is by far the heavyweight champion of the batch kicking ass wherever she goes; feel sorry for the first Tom to try and bag her. I'll try to post a pic or two as soon as I can steal a digital cam.
She's most likely just a blue-eyed white domestic shorthair. They do not have to be Siamese to have blue eyes.
 

solaritybengals

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Interesting subject!! I might have some fun looking into this one. I had no idea albino bengals are popping up. Heres a snippet from:

http://messybeast.com/whitecat.htm

Albino is generally thought of as pure white, but the situation in cats is more complex. There are five known alleles for albinism: blue-eyed albino, pink-eyed albino, Burmese pattern, Siamese pattern and full colour (non-albino). Full colour is dominant to all of the other four alleles. Burmese pattern is incompletely dominant to Siamese pattern; cats that inherit one of each of those genes will be intermediate in pattern and is known as Tonkinese. A quirk of the Siamese form of albinism is that it is temperature dependent with warm areas of the body being paler than cooler areas. For this reason, it is often described as "colour restriction" rather than albinism. Pink-eyed albino appears to be recessive to all of the other albino mutations. Albinism is not linked to deafness in cats ("dominant white" is the gene linked to deafness).

In 1927, judge Mrs Basnett reported on the Paris Cat Show held on 14th and 15th of January by the Cat Club de France and wrote "One lady brought for my inspection a Siamese Albino of about 4 months; I could not see a trace of any shading anywhere on the white coat, tail, legs, ears or mask; the eyes were a very beautiful blue, and their fiery centre seemed to be accentuated by the absence of all shading. In appearance it was a very typical Siamese with the long sleek body and whip tail, and a very beautiful wedge-shaped head and face."

More recently an Albino Siamese has been bred, though only time will tell if it will be perpetuated as a breed. It is a completely white Siamese-type cat with bluish-pink eyes (true "pink eyes" are uncommon due to the physical structure of a cats' eyes). The "European Albino" bred in Belgium is a European shorthair type white cat with ruby-red eyes which have pale translucent blue irises. The albino cats reported in Europe and the USA seem to be intermediate between pink-eyed albino and blue-eyed albino. A true pink-eyed albino was reported in 1931 and again in 1980s in the USA.

In the Ojos Azules cat, typified by blue eyes in combination with colours other than white or colourpoint, the homozygous form of the gene appears to cause dead albino kittens.

An albino kitten was born at Chelmsford Cats Protection League shelter in the 1990s and required handrearing. It was described as white furred and having very pale pink ears, nose leather and paw pads though I have no information on its long term survival. Albino kittens have turned up more recently in the Bengal breed, unsurprising since albinism is found in the Asian Leopard Cat (the wild parent of the Bengal).
 

gayef

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Originally Posted by herethengone

... feel sorry for the first Tom to try and bag her ...
Hello and Welcome to TCS. If you haven't already, please take a moment to read the Forum Rules and Guidelines, paying special attention to Rule Number 2:

"2. Please make sure to spay and neuter your cat. Unless you are a professional breeder and your cat is part of a professional breeding program, please educate yourself to the importance of spaying and neutering by the time your cat is 4-6 months old. By spaying and neutering you enhance your cat's quality of life and improve his or her health. You are also proving your love for cats because in acting as a responsible pet owner you are minimizing the problem of cat overpopulation. "

The Forum Rules can be found here:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15184

You cat is not pedigreed and is ineligible for an ethical breeding program.

GayeF, Forums Moderator
 

goldenkitty45

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If your cat has PALE blue eyes, the likelihood of it being siamese (or blue eye white oriental - which is basically a non-pointed siamese) is rare. If it were siamese/OSH it would have the deep blue eye color - not a pale one.

I think you have an ordinary blue eye white mixed breed - not an albino.
 

lisa101

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i have recently taken in a male cat who is absolutly gorgeous we had a suspicion he was albino with his pink nose paws and ears his lack of colour in his iris's and the way his eyes would turn red in certain light. i took him to the vet today as he was in a bad way when we got found him hiding in our woodshed crying, and she checked him thougholy and has confirmed he is definetly full albino.
he is no longer allowed out side or to lay in the window in the sun. he is not deaf though which is awsome!! i feel really proud to have my gorgeous boy! if anyone has any pics of thier albino cats please post them so i can see. also how rare are full albinos and is it true they are worth alot of money?? i would never ever part with him but it would be interesting to know
 

goldenkitty45

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I'd have to see a picture, but sounds like an ordinary blue-eyed white. Usually those with Siamese backgrounds have a deeper siamese blue eye - not pale.

If this cat is not spayed, please get her done so she's not contributing to more unwanted kittens.
 

missymotus

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Originally Posted by lisa101

pink nose paws and ears his lack of colour in his iris's and the way his eyes would turn red in certain light.
My girl Betsy Sue has pink nose/paws, light blue eyes. The eyes can look red at certain angles, just like when taking flash photos they show red. But she is not an albino, just a regular white, blue eyed DLH.

Originally Posted by lisa101

he is no longer allowed out side or to lay in the window in the sun
White cats shouldn't be allowed in the sun anyway, albino or not.

If you have a photo please post it
 

epona

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Pure albino cats are quite rare, and despite what you may have heard, they aren't likely to be deaf - deafness in white cats is caused by the white spotting gene, not albinism, they are very different genetically.

Albinism is a genetic mutation and can occur in any species of animal (although as I have already said pure albinism is less common in cats than many other species), and doesn't always result in pink eyes - just a lack of pigmentation in the eyes, which can appear to be very pale blue or pink. I would love to see photos of your cat, although I suspect the only way of knowing for sure whether she is albino, without knowing whether it had occurred in any of her ancestors, would be through a DNA test and I'm not sure that a test for albinism exists.

Still want to see photos though


ETA: Definitely get her spayed, if she is an albino she could pass that on to kittens, and it can come with a variety of health problems - the global life expectancy for an albino human is something like 32 years old.
 

jen

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Originally Posted by missymotus

White cats shouldn't be allowed in the sun anyway, albino or not.
White cats CAN sunbathe, tell me you are going to deny a cat something that all cats love to do?
Just tell that to the huge odd eyed white cat that I fostered for awhile, tell that to my cousins cat Lilly who sunbathes all day long! Just have to watch and make sure they noses and ears are alright.
 

missymotus

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Jen, perhaps your climate is a little different to Australia where it's not recommended that white cats go out sunbathing and if they do go outdoors that they wear sunscreen.

Apparently the UK also recommends that white cats stay indoors on very sunny days, and it's no where near as hot over there.
http://www.moggies.co.uk/warning.html

Surely part of being a responsible cat owner means helping to protect them from dangers such as sunburn/skin cancer. It's rather simple to apply some sunscreen and limit sun exposure especially during the hours when UV rays are at their strongest.
 

xxtashaxx

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white cats here in the uk or any cat with a pink nose,paw pads and ears shouldnt be allowed in direct sun light between the hours of 11am-3pm before and after this they should have a good factor suncream dabed on their nose and ears.
 

lisa101

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our albino boy isnt even allowed to sit in the window and sunbath. he is very light sensitive and hates going outside even if im just carrying him when i go check the mail. he closes his eyes and gets scared. when we found him his pads on his front paws were burned and he was crying in the dark in our wood shed. hes come along wonderfully in the 4 days we have had him and is quite happy inside. our vet has done eye exams on him and confirmed he is complete albino.
 

lisa101

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my vet has done eye tests and stuff! how hard is to believe he is albino?! im asking for info not scepticism! i took him in as a stray and was suprised with what our vet said although we had suspected it.
 

telynn

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Lisa101, I think most people are responding to the orginal poster. But post some pics of your kitty, would be interesting to see. I don't think I have ever seen a real albino cat before!
 

sol

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

I'd have to see a picture, but sounds like an ordinary blue-eyed white. Usually those with Siamese backgrounds have a deeper siamese blue eye - not pale.

If this cat is not spayed, please get her done so she's not contributing to more unwanted kittens.
In Devon Rexes we don't get the deep blue eye color in our colorpoints so I'd imagine it's the same with moggies. I would guess a white cat with blue eyes, even pale blue eyes, may be colorpoint under the white but it's hard to prove off course. Some people claim that if the photo flash makes the blue eyes red (like this), the cat is colorpoint. I have no idea if it's a correct assumption though.
 

goldenkitty45

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Oh I know, but you would have darker blue then really pale. Some of the pointed cornish I've seen have a medium blue. I've seen some pretty light blue eye color on all white cats who are not albinos.


BTW i met a cream or very light red longhair cat yesterday with pale green eye color - was unusual
 

lisa101

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i have tried so many times to take a pic of him with his eyes open but it just is so hard he always blinks. any hints to get him to keep his eyes open?
 

missymotus

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Have you tried with the flash off? I assume the flash would be too bright for his sensitive eyes.
 
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