10 Beautiful Cat Eye Color Types
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What’s the color of your furball’s eyes?
My cat Simba has beautiful green eyes.
Notably, most cats have yellow, blue, or green eyes.
However, it’s not uncommon to find cats with copper or hazel-colored eyes. Also, some cats are odd-eyed meaning they have two different colored eyes a condition referred to as heterochromia.
In this article, we look at the seven most common cat eye colors and also touch on a few rare ones.
Why Are Kittens Born Blue Eyed?
All kittens are born with blue eyes because their eyes lack melanocytes or the special skin cells that produce melanin.
However, your kitten’s beautiful and piercing blue eyes will not stay blue forever. At around four to eight weeks, your furball melanocytes will start working leading to a change in their eye color.
Cats whose eyes produce high melanin levels have darker eye colors compared to those with lower pigmentation levels. For instance, a cat whose eyes are green has fewer melanocyte levels compared to one with copper eyes.
Should I Worry If My Cat Eyes Remain Blue?
Blue-eyed cats don’t have pigmentation or melanocytes.
Some cats’ eyes will remain blue even as they age which shouldn’t be a cause for alarm. If you notice your cat’s eyes are still blue at eight weeks, they’ll probably remain blue past adulthood.
However, if your adult cat’s eyes suddenly change color, you should have them checked by a cat’s vet as this could be a sign of a health issue such as conjunctivitis, glaucoma, inflammation, feline leukemia, or uveitis.
Also if your adult cat’s eyes color revert to a blue color you should take her to the vet immediately as this could be a sign of blindness.
Factors That Determine the Color of Your Cat’s Eyes
In addition to the levels of melanin present in your cat’s eyes, other factors that may determine their eye color include:
- Breed – Some cat breeds have similar eye colors. For instance, Siamese and Himalayans often have blue eyes. Also, cat breeds with white coats often tend to have blue eyes
- Genetics – If you have a mother cat with dark eyes you might notice that her kittens end up having deep colored eyes
- Light absorption and reflection – The reflection or absorption of light from your furball’s eyes can affect the appearance of her eye color. Similarly, the amount of light in the environment also determines the appearance of your cat’s eyes.
Notably, a cat’s eye color is rarely linked to her coat color. The reason, the genes responsible for fur and eye colors are totally different. This explains why dark-furred furballs might have light-colored eyes.
Common Cat Eye Colors
Let’s now look at the wide range of cat eye colors that we have.
#1 Blue
Blue eyes are common among white or seal-point furred cats. Also, certain cat breeds such as Siamese, American Shorthair, Ragdoll, British Shorthair, Birman, Persian, Balinese, Devon Rex, Maine Coon, Snowshoe, and Himalayan are more likely to have blue eyes.
The light reflection in your cat’s eyes is what causes her eyes to appear blue. In the actual sense, your blue-eyed cat has clear eyes but when light is reflected just like it happens on a clear window, the eyes appear blue.
Notably, if you have a white cat that has blue eyes it’s because they have fewer melanocytes in their irises. Melanocytes, in addition to creating skin pigment also affect your cat’s inner ear functioning. This is why around 40% of all white cats with blue eyes are born deaf.
To test if your white-furred blue-eyed cat is deaf, stand several feet away from behind her and make loud noises. If she doesn’t look at you or react, she is probably deaf.
Similarly, some white blue-eyed cats have a recessive albinism gene, and just like humans, they are born with some vulnerabilities such as sensitivity to light.
Blue eyes in cats come in different shades including pale, sky blue, blue sapphire, and deep blue.
#2 Green Eyes
Cats with green eyes have low levels of melanocytes in their eyes.
Examples of cat breeds known to have green eyes include Burmilla, Abyssinian, Egyptian Mau, Havana Brown, Sphinx, Norwegian Forest, Russian Blue, Turkish Angola, Sokoke, and Russian blue.
Pure breed cats also often have green eyes.
Green eyes in cats come in different shades including pale green, sea-green, gooseberry, mossy tint, deep pine, vivid green, hunter green, and emerald. The shade of green in your cat’s eyes depends on the levels of melanin in your furball’s irises.
An interesting fact about green-eyed cats is that they have very high chances of being rescued or picked for adoption. These cats are also cherished as evidenced by the number of celebrities with beautiful green-eyed cats.
#3 Yellow
The intensity of the yellow color in yellow-eyed cats varies from one cat to the other. Some cats will have a dull yellow eye color while others will have vibrant golden eyes.
Although your cat’s eye color has nothing to do with her fur color, most black cats have yellow eyes.
Some cat breeds that are known to have yellow eyes include Cornish Rex, Burmese, and Chausie.
#4 Orange
If your cat’s eyes are orange, it’s because they have high melanin levels.
Notably, orange and amber are some of the rare and dark eye colors in cats. An interesting fact about orange-eyed cats is that most of them are male.
Some cat breeds that often have this eye color include:
- British shorthair
- Turkish vans
- Japanese Bobtail
- Scottish folds
If your adult cat eyes suddenly change from another color to orange, you should take them to the vet immediately as this could signify inflammation caused by eye trauma, diabetes, bacterial or fungal infection, high blood pressure, metastatic tumor, or a viral disease.
#5 Amber
Some cat parents confuse the amber eye color with orange.
However, amber eyes have a reddish undertone that isn’t found in orange-eyed cats.
This color is very common among Bengal, Manx, LaPerm, Norwegian forest cat, Sphynx, and British Shorthairs cat breeds.
#6 Hazel
You probably know a few people with hazel eyes.
Unfortunately, unlike humans, very few cats have hazel eyes.
The hazel eye color which is a mix of green and golden brown is often found in brown tabby cats.
Also, big cats such as the Lynx, Abyssinian, Bengals, Cornish Rex, and the American Bobcat often have hazel eyes. Feral cats are also said to have hazel eyes due to the high levels of melanin in their eyes.
#7 Copper
Copper is a complex eye color to distinguish as it’s often confused with amber, hazel, brown, and orange.
However, in cats, copper eyes are an orange-brown color that lacks the green shade often found in brown or hazel eyes.
Copper is a common eye color among black cats.
Breeds that often have the hazel eye color include Chartreux, Japanese Bobtail, Persian, and British Shorthair.
Again, if you notice a change of eye color to copper among your adult cats take them to the vet to have them checked.
Rare Cat Eye Colors
Now that you know some of the common cat eye colors, let’s look at a few rare ones.
#8 Heterochromia
Odd-eyed cats or cats with heterochromia have two different colored eyes. This condition is very common in white cats where you’ll notice that one eye is blue while the other has a different color such as orange, yellow, or green.
Heterochromia can be caused by an injury, a medical condition, medications, or genetics. Another common cause of odd eyes among cats is when the dominant white gene masks other color genes or prevents melanin from reaching one of the eyes.
Notably, heterochromia doesn’t affect a cat’s ability to see or hear. Some cat breeds likely to develop this condition include Sphynx, Persian, Japanese Bobtail, and Turkish van.
#9 Dichromatic Eyes
Cats with dichromatic eyes have two different eye colors in one or both eyes.
A rare occurrence, this condition is caused by different levels of melanin in different sections of the eye.
A dichromatic eye will have a dominant color but a ring or slice of a different color in the same eye.
#10 Albinism Eyes
Albino cats don’t have pigmentation in their eyes which causes the eyes to have a light blue or almost white color. The lilac coloring may also appear purple in certain environments due to light reflection.
In some instances, albino cats’ eyes will have a pink or red coloring due to the exposure of the eyes’ blood vessels.
Most albino-eyed cats have white coats and are also born deaf. However, not all white cats are albinos, and not all albino cats are deaf.
Albinism is often common in certain cat breeds including Domestic Shorthair, Tonkinese, Bengal, and Siamese.
In closing, a cat’s eye color depends on the level of pigmentation in their eyes. The higher the level of melanin in the eyes, the darker the eye color. For instance, cats with high levels of melanocytes have yellow, orange, brown, or hazel eyes. Cats with little or no melanocytes in their eyes have green or blue eyes.
So, what’s the color of your cat’s eyes?
Don’t be shy, share with us in the comments section below.
