One of the most striking features of a cat is their eyes. From bright blue to green, gold, and every shade in between, it’s mesmerizing looking into those big deep eyes of a cat.
If it’s blue eyes that you’re looking for in a cat then you need to know which cats have blue eyes as different breeds and coat colors mean different color eyes.
Their eye color is actually linked to the color of the cat’s coat, which of course can also be breed-specific to breeds of cat that are the same color.
Another confusing aspect of blue eyes is that all kittens are born with blue eyes, but by the time they are 8 weeks old their eyes will have changed color if they are going to.
Which Cats Have Blue Eyes?
Blue-eyed Cat Breeds
- Balinese
- Birman
- Foreign White
- Himalayan
- Javanese
- Ojos Azules
- Ragdoll
- Siamese
- Snowshoe
- Turkish Angora
Cat Breeds with Blue Eyes Depending on Coat Color
- American Bobtail
- American Curl
- British Shorthair
- Cornish Rex
- Devon Rex
- Japanese Bobtail
- Munchkin
- Neva Masquerade Siberians
- Peterbald
- Ragamuffin
- Scottish Fold
- Selkirk Rex
- Siberian
- Snow Bengals
- Sphynx
- Tonkinese
Why Do Cats Have Blue Eyes?
The area of their eye with the color is called the iris. The iris has pigment-producing cells called melanocytes, and these pigments are called melanin.
The more active melanocytes the cat has in their iris, the darker the color of their eyes will be.
So the opposite ends of the scale are blue-eyed cats with very little melanocytes activity, while dark copper eyes mean the cat more active melanocytes.
This also explained why kittens all have blue eyes for the first 8 weeks or so. Their eyes take time for their melanocytes to start working.
As their cells start to function their eyes will change color. Some cats even have two different color eyes, it’s rare but it happens.
It’s just a genetic abnormality. It’s actually due to the same gene that makes cats white. All it means is that each eye has a different amount of active cells.
Can Black Cats Have Blue Eyes?
It is possible for a black cat to have blue eyes. Any combination of coat and eyes is possible, it’s just extremely rare.
As I explained above, cats with white fur and grey fur are more genetically likely.