Albino Cat

I know an Albino isn't a breed of a cat, but I didn't know where else to post this, and I told my friend I would ask....

A friend of mine has a kitten, almost 2 weeks old, and she thinks it is an albino. I haven't seen it, but she says it is pure white, and it's eyes are a red color. She wondered if anyone had any advice for her about this cat....it's mother is a calico, and the father is unknown.

She heard that albino cats can have more health problems than others, and is going to take the kitten to the vet to be checked out soon.
She also wondered how rare an albino cat is.
If anyone knows anything about albino cats, any advice or information would be great. I will pass it along to her.
Thanks!

Here's a pic of an Albino cat.

I couldn't find any info on them I'll try and find some

Thanks!!! And what a pretty cat! Is that yours?

Nope, but it's a really beautiful cat!!!

debby,
I know of a girl and she and her hubby have an all white cat (I can't remember the breed: a turkish something?
Anyways, he is deaf ...... Not sure if it is because he is an albino, though. They even taught him sign language
I found this link for you about albinos! http://messybeast.com/whitecat.htm HTH

Thanks Tigger!!! I am going to go check that link out right now!

Tigger, a white cat is different from an albino cat, although of course the albino would be white, too. But genetically they are different. The deafness is only linked to the white color, not the albinism, so an albino cat would not be any more likely to be deaf than any other color cat.

Debby, I wish I could help you. I knew a woman who was an albino; she was very attractive and young-with white hair. She was in my choir and had to hold the music very close because of her poor eyesight.
I had an albino catfish in my aquarium; it had red eyes and did not live long. That is the limit of my knowledge; the eyesight is badly affected in many albinos. It is a "congenital deficiency in pigment," according to Webster. I think a web search would be helpful. I'll look.
I had a white cat with blue eyes. Her hearing was normal.

I found this link on google.com:

http://www.cathobbyist.com/forums/si...ssages/11.html

I believe that there are red-eye and blue-eye albino cats. I think that Jeanie's cat would be a blue-eyed albino because regular blue-eyed white cats are almost always deaf.

By definition, an albino animal lacks all pigmentation in the skin, hair and iris of the eye, and therefore has pink skin and eyes with white hair. Blue-eyed white cats are not true albinos, because of the presence of the pigment in their eyes.


I couldn't find any info on feline albinism in my genetics textbooks, but albinism occurs at a frequence of 1 in 20,000 births to unrelated humans. Interesting science fact of the day.

The link I posted is about a breeding program for albino cats, Siamese albinos.

okeefecl is exactly right. To reiterate what I said earlier, a white cat is NOT the same as an albino cat.

To get technical, a white cat is caused by what is called the W gene. It is dominant so a cat has to only have one parent that carries the gene to be white. Albinism is determined by the C gene. It is a recessive trait so a cat has to have both parents carrying the gene to be an albino, as well as no C genes with sub alleles, as they are all dominant to the albinism gene.

If a cat has ANY color to his eyes, he is not an albino.

Wow...this is really interesting! Thanks guys! I am going to go check out the link you posted, Jeanie, and also e-mail this page to my friend. Thanks again!!!

I just got throught reading a primer on feline genetics, and was surprised to find out that there is a blue eyed albino..

This as small excerpt from the primer.

The blue-eyed albino comes from expression of the blue-eyed albino
allele of the albino gene, "ca*", masking all colors and patterns.
The eyes are always albino blue.

The albino coat comes from expression of the albino allele of the
albino gene, "cc", masking all colors and patterns. The eyes are
always pink.

Color | Karyotype | Usual eye color
----------------------+--------------------------+----------------
full-inhibited white | ****** ****** I***** | not wbl/abl/pnk
full-spotted white | ****** ****** **S*** | not wbl/abl/pnk
dominant white | ****** ****** ****W* | org wbl odd
blue-eyed albino | ****** ca***** ****** | alb
albino | ****** cc**** ****** | pnk


The whole text can be found here

Thanks Ken!!!

My friends kitten is doing well, so far...but the vet really made me mad.....they called the vet and told him about the little albino kitten, and without even seeing the kitten his reaction was, it would be better to just put it to sleep right away, because they can have alot of health problems and are usually deaf.

Well according to the info I have received here, it is usually only the blue eyed white cats that are deaf, not the pink eyed ones....I thought it was rather presumptious of him to say the kitten should be put to sleep.

I was given a tiny white kitten last October with huge feet and since then have learned many things about her, she has 6 toes and pink pads and skin and pink puples in lite and blue irises, the vet went nuts over her and everyone that sees her just cant believe what she looks like. I have ben told she is albino and is called a mitten cat for her feet? I have tons of pics, I put her kitten pic in the pet pics in the paper and the paper called me wanting to know if the cat was real.

I've heard of them, but a true albino is rare. The eye color of a very light blue color might appear more reddish. Would have to see the cat in person. I suspect its really a pale blue eyed white.

Originally Posted by Peppurr

Here's a pic of an Albino cat.

I couldn't find any info on them

I'll try and find some

Click to expand...

It's actuarally impossible to tell if that cat is a true albino. The gene for white has nothing do to with albinism, it only "covers up" the cats true color. Colorpoint however is a kind of albinism but not what we would call true albinism. Colorpoint cats tend to get red eyes when the flash from a camera hits their eyes.

This cat could be a white cat with colorpoint under the white (which would mean it has blue eyes when the flash doesn't hit the eyes).

If the cat is a true albino (it is possible but not that common in cats) then I wouldn't have thought that it would be liable to different problems than any other albino animal, which include - highly sensitive skin and tendency towards dermatitis/eczema, one of the biggest problems is that the skin has no protection against sunlight at all, so skin cancer is a big risk, as is sunstroke and heat exhaustion - so albino cats should be indoor only. I believe also there is a tendency towards eye problems due to the lack of pigmentation. There may also be sensitivity to certain environmental things - I used to know an albino man who had great problems with using laundry detergents and conditioners because they irritated his skin.

I think that the vet suggesting euthanasia is being a bit hasty - I would find another vet, get the kitten checked over and make sure it is healthy as you would any other, keep it out of the sun, and be aware that there are health problems that the cat may have a tendency towards that may involve vet care in the future. But then any cat can get sick or develop health problems if you look at it that way!