Hi!
My cat has just had three kittens, one of which is albino.
It’s a little girl and my questions now are:
How common is it?
Are any other discrepancies included?
Yes, in short, of course, I now want to know everything about albino cats.
Thanks in advance.
Hey!
Albinos occur in all animals, including humans.
However, it is unusual to see albinos out among wild animals – the color makes them clearly visible and thus they are very exposed to predators and other things.
No other defects or injuries associated with the pigment loss have been detected.
The albinogen is recessive, ie. the plant must come from both parent animals. The gene is located at the C locus.
The C-series includes the following genes:
C = full-color, cb = Burmese staining, cs = Siamese-colored, ca = albino blue-eyed and c = albino red-eyed.
A red-eyed albino has no pigment at all while the blue-eyed has a pigmented iris. The deafness that occurs in other white cats, especially when blue eyes are due to an injury in the ear and is associated with a completely different gene that gives white color.
So the little albino kitten has the same conditions to develop and live completely normally as any other kitten – maybe you have to watch out for the sun, they can like other bright and white animals be more sensitive to the sun’s rays and need to be protected with sunscreen if they should be outdoors.