Cat With Emerald Eyes

The brightest emerald color cat eyes that I have seen. Sorry the picture quality is not great. It is a close up and the photographer, a veterinarian or vet tech, probably forgot that the camera could not focus that close.

I don't think it matters that much and it may even help as it throws into focus the unusual color of this cat's eyes.

This is a straight photograph. There is no post-editing of any kind as far as I am aware to enhance the colors. I added the pictures of the uncut emerald stone as reference and lightened the picture a fraction.

Grey cat emerald eyes. Photo Nottingham Vet School on Flickr

This cat was at a UK vet's clinic. I have no idea what he or she was in for. The fur color is grey (gray in the USA) and called "blue" in the cat fancy. The face is that of of blue British SH or Chartreux. But the cat might well be random bred. Anyway the Chartreux is rare and has copper/orange colored eyes under the standard. The eye color of the British SH is not set by the breed standard.

There it is; the cat with the emerald eyes. I'd like to know more about this cat because the eyes look a little unnatural if I am honest.

Mediterranean Cats

Mediterranean cats are often white, short haired, slender, with Van-type markings and sometimes they have odd-eye color because of the presence of the while spotting or piebald gene. The medical term is heterochromia iridum.

Having looked at a lot of cat pictures, the above description is quite typical of Mediterranean cats. I am thinking mainly of the Greek Islands and surrounding areas. That is not to say that a lot of other coat types can't be seen as well. You will see a wide range. It is just that this type is fairly typical. You'll see Van-type cats in Morocco too.

Mediterranean cat - Odd eyed cat - photo by ihasb33r (Flickr)

The above picture is a slightly cleaned up version of the original that was taken on Greece as far as I can tell. It is a nice picture, particularly when cleaned up a bit (my personal opinion). That's why I picked it and thanks to the photographer for the license to publish here.

For me the look is so typical of Mediterranean cats. Quite delicate in appearance and size. That is probably due to the heat. Warmer climates tend to produce smaller cats and colder climates produce larger cats (the Sumatran and Siberian tigers are examples).

The genes that have caused the coat are the same as those that produce the Turkish Van pattern in neighboring Turkey. No surprise there as the countries are adjacent to one another. The picture perfect version of the van pattern is an inverted black "V" shape on the forehead and over the eyes and a black tail.

This little cat has a vestige of that. Blue eyes are due to a lack of pigmentation that was removed by the same gene that removes the pigmentation in the fur - the piebald gene. It is the same gene that produces the painted or piebald horse.

Greek cats are not treated that well it appears. A new cat breed is being created in Cyprus. Also you might like to read about the spread of the various cat breeds from the original source.

Picture of a cat watching in silhouette

Original photo by Jo Jakeman - creative commons license

Domestic cats can spend endless hours in the dusk watching and waiting. The domestic cat likes to watch at dusk. They might be under a tree or on a roof, both places are safe. When prey arrives it will wait before pouncing. The attack has to have the highest probability of success. Cats have poor color vision and see less detail than humans but can see movement better and can see much better under dark conditions.