Their
colors are basically green, yellow to gold, and most rarely, blue. There is
a wide range of
different shades within these three basic colors. Most non-pedigree cats have
green eyes. Wildcats have hazel or copper eyes, sometimes tending towards
yellow or green.
The only
eye color that is linked to coat color is blue. Blue eyes are caused by forms
of albinism that lead to a lack of pigmentation in both the coat and the iris;
this condition can occur in cats with a high degree of white in their coats.
Blue-eyes cats with white coats are often deaf, because the gene causing the
lack of pigment unfortunately causes fluid to dry up in the organ of Corti,
the receptor for hearing in the cochlea, leading to deafness.
Siamese
blue eyes have a different source. They are not linked to deafness, but may
be associated with poor vision. Early Siamese often squinted to compensate;
breeding has removed the squint, with no apparent loss of visual acuity. There
is at least one other rare blue-eyed gene in cats, appearing in any coat color.
The genetics of these rare cats, now called Ojos Azules, are still under investigation.
