Do Most Cats Have Green Eyes? How Typical It Is & FAQ
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While it may seem that every cat you see has green eyes, the truth is that a cat’s eyes come in various colors. Green isn’t even the most common color for a cat’s eyes, though many pet owners will be surprised to hear that.
However, green eyes aren’t the rarest color for cat eyes. If you’ve ever wondered about the color of a cat’s eyes or cat eyes in general, we’ll try to answer a few of your questions, so join us.
What Color Eyes Are Cats Born With?
Melanocytes are responsible for eye color in cats. The more melanocytes a cat has, the darker its eye color will be. Kittens appear to have blue eyes when they’re born because they don’t have melanocytes in their little systems.
They will start forming when the kitten is between 4 to 6 weeks old, and that’s when the kitten’s eyes will begin to turn to the color they will be forever. You might be unable to tell the actual color of your feline’s eyes until it’s around 4 months old.
What’s The Most Common Color for a Cat’s Eyes?
You’d think that green would be the most common color found in a cat’s eyes, but it isn’t. Actually, yellowish gold is considered to be the most common. The colors range from pale yellow to darker amber. Most mixed-breed cats have goldish-green eyes, commonly known as hazel eyes.
While you can find mixed-breed cats with green eyes, it’s not as common as you think. Most green-eyed cat breeds are purebred. The most common are the Norwegian Forest cat, Russian Blues, Sphinxes, and Egyptian Maui. The green in these cats’ eyes ranges from pale green to emerald green and even to dark hunter green.
Does the Cat’s Color Affect Their Eye Color?
Both eye and fur color are determined by the number of melanocytes and the genetics of your feline pal. However, they aren’t the result of the same melanocytes, so the color of your cat’s coat has nothing to do with what color its eyes are. For example, your black cat may have green eyes, gold eyes, or pale-yellow eyes.
However, because of their dominant genes, white cats are much more likely to have blue eyes than any other color. It’s a myth that all cats with white fur and blue eyes are deaf. However, there has been a link between the color white and deafness in felines.
Are There Rare Eye Colors in Cats?
Now and then, but very rarely, you’ll come across a cat with two different colored eyes. This is called heterochromia iridium and is inherited from the cat’s parents. An injury to the eye can also cause the color change in cats.
Another rare eye color in cats is a dichromatic eye. This is the rarest of eye colors and has two very different shades of color in the same iris. It is caused by different pigment levels occurring in the same iris.
Wrap Up
We now know that most cats don’t have green eyes and that it’s not typical for them to have green eyes. The most common color for the eyes of a cat is yellowish gold, which is something you see in cats in Halloween movies and TV shows all the time.
If you have a cat with green eyes, it’s not as common an occurrence as you might think, so enjoy your feline pal and their pretty green eyes. There are standard and rare colors in cats, just as in humans, and you can look forward to several eye colors in the cats you adopt if you’re a cat lover.
Featured Image Credit: M_Light, Shutterstock
