How about a blue eye thread?

[northernglow]

Originally Posted by Mimosa

dEUS, seal tabby Sacred Birman

Holy sh...eep those eyes are gorgeous!!

I hope that one day we will have those in pointed Brits aswell (newish color, still lot to work on as the eyes tend to be pale blue).

 

[gailuvscats]

They are all beautiful! Are blue eyed cats deaf?

 

[kluchetta]

Smudge being a bad boy in the Christmas Tree...

"Siamese" or pointed-type cats are not deaf, but white cats with blue eyes can be, or, like my Clyde, he has only one blue eye, but is deaf. It is in the way the neural crest develops in the embryo.

 

[mimosa]

Originally Posted by gailuvscats

Are blue eyed cats deaf?

Some are, but most aren't.
The kind of deafness you are probably thinking of has to do with a missing cell layer in the ear of cats that is formed from the same precursor cells as the pigment in skin and eyes.

You have two main causes for blue eyes;
1 the colorpoint pattern, pointed cats do have pigment in their coats but only if the coat is not too warm. The hottest part of their body stays a light colour, sometimes almost white, the coldest parts of the body, the "points" (eg legs, tail, ears and face) are darker. Colorpoint cats always have blue eyes but no special risk of deafness.

2 white cats can also have blue eyes and/or an increased risk of deafness. Not all white cats have blue eyes and not all blue eyed white cats are deaf. There is an element of unpredictability that has to do with the development of a kitten embryo in the womb.

At a certain stage in the development of the embryo pigment precursor cells spread over it, they start at the top and spread down to the bottom. This way a cat ends up with color in its coat.
With some kittens that have the "spotted white" gene the spread of precursor cells stops before the whole embryo is covered, this leaves white (uncolored) spots.
In kittens that have the "dominant white" gene the spread stops almost immediately, which leads to a completely white kitten. Almost, because often the precursor cells will have reached the ears and the eyes. In that case you will have a hearing white cat with colored eyes. Sometimes the spread only reaches one eye, then you have an odd-eyed cat with one blue and one colored eye. Or sometimes the precursor cells do not reach the eyes at all and the cat will have two blue eyes. Sometimes the precursor cells do not reach the ears and the cat will be deaf, because the ears and the eyes are very close to each other no pigment in the eyes (= blue eyes) often means no pigment in the ears, so blue eyed cats seem a little more prone to deafness, but the spread of precursor cells is unpredictable so this is not a rule that is set in stone.

White kittens are sometimes born with a "kitten cap" a patch of color between the ears/on the forehead that will fade to white later on. This means there is some pigment in that region so chances are the precursor cells have reached the ears too and the kitten will not be deaf.

Some good links:

http://home.earthlink.net/~featherland/off/white.html
http://www.messybeast.com/whitecat.htm

edit; I see that Kluchetta was faster than me, but i'll post it anyway

 

[kluchetta]

Originally Posted by Mimosa

edit; I see that Kluchetta was faster than me, but i'll post it anyway

That's ok, yours was a lot more comprehensive. I've been looking for pictures of my 2 odd-eyed white cats, but can't find any.

 

[myfamiliars]

Man. The blue eyes in this thread are simply stunning.

 

[jazzmin_flower]

Here is a photo of my blue-eyed Mitsu

She always has her nose sooty like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. She is such a character fit for a story.

 

[aelurophile]

What a beauty!

Originally Posted by Jazzmin_Flower

Here is a photo of my blue-eyed Mitsu

She always has her nose sooty like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. She is such a character fit for a story.

 

[kittkatt]

OMG I am just melting here looking at all those gorgeous kitties with their beautiful baby blues!

Makes me want to go out and adopt a beautiful blue-eyed bundle of fur!

 

[Asteria]

I love this thread! I'm a sucker for blue eyed kitties.

I wish I had better pictures of my cats' eyes, especially Molly's. I'll have to try to take some more with the right lighting to show their depth. They turn out too washed out in most photos. Anyway, though, my girls:

Polly:




Molly:

 

[my4llma]

All those beautiful blue eyes! I love cats with blue eyes.

Lynxx

had blue eyes when we first got him, but they changed color.

 

[morningrl]

These are some beautiful blue eyed kitties... Here is my big blue eyed boy...

 

[jazzmin_flower]

Here is another one of my favorite kitties:

I Love my Fandango Kitty -- he is a wonderful neutered male that is a firm believer in guarding the home. He is devoted to all the others.

 

[bemba]

They are all stunning! This is my rescue kitten we named Argo, he was rescued from a cat hoarder in a bad neighbourhood who had 5 litters of kittens at once! He and his brother were the only 2 to survive. His mother had one blue eye.

This is when we first got Argo... he was bloated with worms infested with fleas and had calicivirus!

12038713_901349583246589_5508916009087123060_o.jpg

• bemba
• Sep 16, 2015

This is Argo now after some much needed TLC, he LOVES his food and is a big purrer!

View media item 299296