Post by vbfdoee on Oct 14, 2012 13:36:33 GMT -6
The Erins have shown many times that they are woefully ignorant of cat genetics. Pure white cats with black feet, far too many tortoiseshell toms, solid brown cats, impossible color combinations, et cetera. As you would suspect, eye colors are no exception to this.
So what eye colors are even possible? And with which pelt colors?
Cats' eye colors exist on a spectrum from copper to yellow to green (I'll get to blue soon), with most cats somewhere in the golden-green to yellow range. No red (no, not even if your cat has albinism. albinism will give you pale blue or pink eyes, not blood red), no grey, no black, no rainbow, and no magical mood ring eyes either. Most random-bred cats' eyes aren't all that brightly colored, though you will occasionally find a street cat with really vivid eyes. Anecdote time: I have a ridiculous number of pet cats, all of which are random-bred, and they all have pretty much the same golden-green eye color. Odds are that your OC's eyes won't be anything to write home about.
Blue eyes are linked to white fur; as a rule, you don't get solid-colored or low-grade white spotted cats with blue eyes. Sorry, Scourge. A good rule of thumb is that if the white extends up to the cat's face, it's alright for their eyes to be blue. Purebred Siamese and other breeds with that type of coloration have blue eyes, though you probably won't see them in a Clan. But what if a Clan cat has Siamese heritage? Sorry, but the blue eyes are a consequence of the genetically recessive Siamese coloration. Unless the Clan coincidentally took in two Siamese cats at the same time, you won't get that pattern in a Clanborn cat.
A note on hearing impairment:
Disregarding albinism (sorry, Misty), there are two mechanisms by which a cat might be solid white. The dominant white gene is pretty simple: it covers up whatever colors are present in the cat's genome, so it winds up solid white. There's also the white spotting gene, which is responsible for bicolor cats. The proportion of white fur to colored fur varies, and in some cases the white fur completely predominates so that you would have no idea that the cat is genetically a bicolor. There's a lot of talk about blue-eyed white cats being deaf, and this is pretty much true. If a cat has the dominant white gene, then a blue-eyed white cat has something around a 75% chance of being deaf. However, the white spotting gene is not linked with deafness, to my knowledge.
tl;dr: anywhere from copper to green is fine. Maybe blue if the cat is mostly white or solid white. Blue-eyed whites are probably, but not always, deaf. Anything else: don't touch it.
So what eye colors are even possible? And with which pelt colors?
Cats' eye colors exist on a spectrum from copper to yellow to green (I'll get to blue soon), with most cats somewhere in the golden-green to yellow range. No red (no, not even if your cat has albinism. albinism will give you pale blue or pink eyes, not blood red), no grey, no black, no rainbow, and no magical mood ring eyes either. Most random-bred cats' eyes aren't all that brightly colored, though you will occasionally find a street cat with really vivid eyes. Anecdote time: I have a ridiculous number of pet cats, all of which are random-bred, and they all have pretty much the same golden-green eye color. Odds are that your OC's eyes won't be anything to write home about.
Blue eyes are linked to white fur; as a rule, you don't get solid-colored or low-grade white spotted cats with blue eyes. Sorry, Scourge. A good rule of thumb is that if the white extends up to the cat's face, it's alright for their eyes to be blue. Purebred Siamese and other breeds with that type of coloration have blue eyes, though you probably won't see them in a Clan. But what if a Clan cat has Siamese heritage? Sorry, but the blue eyes are a consequence of the genetically recessive Siamese coloration. Unless the Clan coincidentally took in two Siamese cats at the same time, you won't get that pattern in a Clanborn cat.
A note on hearing impairment:
Disregarding albinism (sorry, Misty), there are two mechanisms by which a cat might be solid white. The dominant white gene is pretty simple: it covers up whatever colors are present in the cat's genome, so it winds up solid white. There's also the white spotting gene, which is responsible for bicolor cats. The proportion of white fur to colored fur varies, and in some cases the white fur completely predominates so that you would have no idea that the cat is genetically a bicolor. There's a lot of talk about blue-eyed white cats being deaf, and this is pretty much true. If a cat has the dominant white gene, then a blue-eyed white cat has something around a 75% chance of being deaf. However, the white spotting gene is not linked with deafness, to my knowledge.
tl;dr: anywhere from copper to green is fine. Maybe blue if the cat is mostly white or solid white. Blue-eyed whites are probably, but not always, deaf. Anything else: don't touch it.