#nebbie91

so the question here is basically this: can a dominant blue-eyed gene pop up in the randombred population of warrior cats? the answer is a resounding Yes, Sure, Why Not!

any and all naturally-occurring mutations are fair game, in my opinion. not only that, you can find ways to make them new and exciting. for example, dominant blue-eye genes tend to occur at the same time as unique conditions and colorations. this can be negative- for example, the now extinct Ojos Azules breed, which never made it out of its very early phases due to often-fatal mutations that were linked with the blue eye gene. on the other hand, the new Topaz breed tends not to have severe complications, and often occurs with unique and cute white markings.

if you want to introduce your own blue eye mutation into your warrior cats world, there are things you can keep in mind to make things more interesting. first of all, blue eyes are linked with white—this is why cats generally only have blue eyes if they are albino, colorpoint, or have extensive white spotting, and why uniquely mutated blue eyes often occur alongside strange white markings. additionally, blue eyes are linked with deafness. the topaz breed listed above tends to produce deafness in its homozygous form, making it undesirable to breed two blue-eyed cats together.

you could absolutely utilize these things as plot points in your story, making your blue-eyed characters even more unique. you could also disregard it completely! there’s no reason you couldn’t have a completely unique mutation that produces no side-effects whatsoever!

you can find more information on the dominant blue-eye mutations that have been found so far here!

Nothing really new no and I don’t really expect there to be much new information very soon. Heterozygous breeding is continuing at the moment as expected without any issues and more blue eyed cats are being introduced into other breeds/breeding programs like Munchkins, Maine Coons and I think Norwegian Forest Cats.

However on a sidenote an Australian cat breeder (maryvalleycattery.com) who imported one of these cats this year to introduce the blue eyed gene to his cattery by chance found another cat with very intense blue eyes and independant coat colour in Australia, which has produced blue eyed kittens as well. 

He is currently hoping to find out if it is the same gene as the Russian Altai or a new blue eyed gene altogether, which would be quite exciting. Especially since there is a possibility that homozygous kittens from this (potentially) new line won’t display health concerns like the Ojos Azules did before or the increased risk of deafness when 2 blue eyed high white Topaz cats are being mated.

For anyone who wants to look up some more about this new breed/gene you can have a look at this post I made a while back:

For Inktober Day 30, I drew @nebbie91 ‘s request of a DuckTales 2017 styled Gauchito!

I’m doing well, thank you!

I should take this opportunity to say that my activity from here on out is going to be very minimal. Though it may seem far away, my final exam for vet school is looming in the distance and I absolutely have to pass it.

Since it’s still in the very early stages of breed recognition I’ve made a “special” instead of a colour post for you here.

Enjoy! :)

Don’t forget to send in your Mixed Monday requests for next week! <3 If you already sent one, it will stay in the pool for one of the next posts. You can also send more than one if you like (gives me more time to research).

Requests specifying a colour AND a breed are more likely to be picked.

Nope, it’s only epistatic white. The reason for this is that the two genes use different mechanisms to restrict pigment. Epistatic white interferes with melanoblast (color cell) formation and migration, and can also affect closely related cells in the eyes and ears. If it affects the eyes, it causes the eyes to be blue, and if it affects the ears, it causes deafness. If a dominant white cat has blue eyes, it is more likely that the ears are also affected. In addition, if they have only one blue eye, it is more likely that they will be deaf in the ear on that side.

With white spotting, melanoblasts form and migrate evenly, but as the embryo grows the layer “cracks apart”, giving us the distinctive pattern of white spotting. This can affect the eyes, especially if the white reaches around the eyes, but it does not cause any notable increase in the rate of deafness.