# Albino, or just white?



## Reno

I have a white cat and I'm trying to figure out if he's albino, or just all white. There's a pic of him here. 
(along with my other cat,Rocco, who, unfortunantly, is just a black blob :wink: ) As you can see, Lucius is solid white with pale blue eyes. He is perfectly healthy, can hear, can see, etc. I was wondering if there is a site that I could research this further, or some way to tell if he's albino, or just white. 

Thanks for your help. 

Reno


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## Zalensia

This page is not available. 

As far as i knew albinos were white with pink/ red eyes
The reason the eyes are red/pink is because there is no colour pigment (causing albino) and so you see the blood vesels.

If she/he has blue eyes then i would say she/he is a white cat


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## Reno

That's Lucius (the white one) and Rocco (the black blob.... not a very good pic, but the only one on the comptuer that you can see Luci's eyes)

(does that pic work? it only works half the time for me :roll: )

I found this info(http://www.fanciers.com/other-faqs/color-genetics.html): 

_White fur is the absence of any pigmentation. A solid white coat may be caused by any of three genetic mechanisms, which are completely different: 

Albino white. This is recessive, and has been mentioned in the previous section. 

Complete white spotting. The white spotting factor (S) is an incomplete dominant, which is affected by polygenetic modifiers and usually results in a cat that is only partially white. However, it can be so complete that it results in a completely white coat. 

Dominant white. This mutation overrides all other genes for pigmentation, and produces a white coat and blue eyes. As its name implies, this is the effect of a dominant gene (W). 

The dominant white can produce much deeper blue eye color than the albino.

Deafness in white cats is associated with the white spotting factor (S), and with the dominant white (W), but not with the albino white (c/c or ca/ca). _

So, apparently, albino cats can have blue eyes. I think he might be a dominant white, but his eyes are so pale, almost white. He's also completely healthy, no deafness. So I don't know. I'll have to keep studying.


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## faile

still can't see the pic. try uploading to the photo album on the forum here.


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## faile

still can't see the pic. try uploading to the photo album on the forum here.

edit: weird, i could see the pic while i was replying, in the topic review. cute kitties!


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## Reno

http://www.catforum.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=1139&password=&sort=1&cat=500&page=1 <-= does that work?


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## Sol

I would say his white, not albino they usually have pink/red eyes. He's probably the most common type too, the dominant type (W). My white babies grandmother is white with very pale blue eyes, almost white eyes. Compaerd to her, your Lucius have very colored eyes. :wink:


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## Bean

Blue eyes can occur in albinos as well - but for some reason in animals it's usually pink eyes (I've seen a couple albino people - they have blue eyes).

If the eyes aren't blue or pink it's definetly not (Moby's are green actually).


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## Annissa

I saw a little girl who was albino and her eyes were red. I had always assumed red eyes were a necessary trait of being albino. That was always my defense when people said _I_ was albino anyway.


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## Jeanie

I don't believe your cat is an albino. If his eyesight is good, he's a lovely white cat. I have had a white cat and a black cat most of my adult life, and other than the fact that my last white cat had eyes that were more obviously blue, he looks like my white cats looked. I have never seen an albino animal without pink or very bad eyes. That includes a choir member I had.


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## Empath

While an albino is most likely to have a pink iris, it can be blue. If I understand it properly though, an even more strict determination is that they either always, or nearly always, have reddish pupils.


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## meowmix

yeah, i agree with what everyone's saying about the red eyes. that's the only color i thought an albino's eyes could be.


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## Reno

Albino cats CAN have blue eyes. I've read enough to know that. So the color isn't really the issuse. Since his eyesite is so good, I doubt he is albino. I never said he was; I'm just trying to figure it out. 

Lucius' brother was also solid white with pale blue eyes. Would that indicate Dominant white, rather than complete spotting? That's what I've been thinking. 

What health problems are related to the different types of white cats? Deafness, I guess, is related to dominant white and complete white spotting, but not albinos. Albinos, I think, tend to have skin problems. Can anyone verify and/or add to this?


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## Sol

Reno said:


> Albino cats CAN have blue eyes. I've read enough to know that. So the color isn't really the issuse. Since his eyesite is so good, I doubt he is albino. I never said he was; I'm just trying to figure it out.
> 
> Lucius' brother was also solid white with pale blue eyes. Would that indicate Dominant white, rather than complete spotting? That's what I've been thinking.
> 
> What health problems are related to the different types of white cats? Deafness, I guess, is related to dominant white and complete white spotting, but not albinos. Albinos, I think, tend to have skin problems. Can anyone verify and/or add to this?


If there were more white kittens in the litter it's probably dominant white. Statstically your cat shouldn't be albino. Albinism is very unusal in cats and if his brother is white I would definately exclude albinism as an alternative.

Deafness is the only defect linked to dominant white and complete white spotting. And skin disorders have been noted in some albinos. Albinos are (I think) more sensitive to sun light than non-albinos.


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## Ashley

My cousin is an albino and her eyes are blue in darker light. However, most of the time they appear pinkish due to how the light reflects. Human albinos are more sensitve to sun and it would only make sense for the same to apply to animals, don't know for sure. Not sure about cats but humans can also be partially albino for example the skin has no pigmentation but the eyes do. Also albinos tend to have rapid eye movement.


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## ForJazz

Albinos *can* have blue eyes -- but only in certain lights. Sometimes they "appear" blue, but truly aren't, because by definition albinoism = absence of pigment. This makes *true* blue impossible, but not impossible for them to appear blue. If they are *always* blue and you want to be specific, then you could have a near albino I guess. 

Sol knows a lot about breeding, and she has a white cat as well. I'd trust what she says about the probability of your cat being an albino.

~Thanks Jeanne


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## RarePuss

my cat is an all-white, but with deep green/yellow eyes.


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## Jeanie

She's a real cutie-pie!


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## ForJazz

Isn't he? Ugh I would give my right arm for Marsh...so perfect. And I guess since Marsh has green eyes, his coat is a result of the complete white spotting gene.


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## RarePuss

ForJazz said:


> Isn't he? Ugh I would give my right arm for Marsh...so perfect. And I guess since Marsh has green eyes, his coat is a result of the complete white spotting gene.


Thanks Jazzy!!! He's so special, my Marsh  

... and you're right  his mom is a painted torbie polydactyl munchkin, his father is an all-white yellow-eyed LaPerm. 

three kittens were white, the 4th female was torbie, like mom


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## ForJazz

Ooh I didn't know that about his father...so munchkins aren't bred to other munchkins? I had no idea. Are they always bred to LaPerms?

Edit: Ah I see now -- I went to laperm.com. So then Marsh's breeding was in hopes of getting skookums?


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## RarePuss

ForJazz said:


> Ooh I didn't know that about his father...so munchkins aren't bred to other munchkins? I had no idea. Are they always bred to LaPerms?
> 
> Edit: Ah I see now -- I went to laperm.com. So then Marsh's breeding was in hopes of getting skookums?


The breeder really tries to maintain both breeds and mixes munchkins and Laperms because the end result are amaing cats. The have the friendliness and goofiness of a muchkin and sensitivity, curiocity and high-energy of a laperm. Laperms are also very people-friendly, so both are awesome family pets. 

Her clients, and she has a LOT of them  either pick the munchkin for their look, laperm for probably their acrobatics and quickness or skookums for a little bit of both  and yes, skookums are most prized for some reason. 

It's just in my personal opinion, i like munchnkins better, the laperm's coat is unique and different from a regular cat.


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