Albino Cat Eye Color

Albino cat eye color is pink. The color of a cat’s eye comes from pigmentation in the smooth muscles of the iris of the eye. This is the donut shaped part of the eye behind the lens which encircles the pupil, the opening in the middle.

The photograph is by kngsrivr on Flickr. This is a link to his/her Flickr page. Thank you for a nice photo.

Robinson’s Genetics, a well-known authority of cat genetics, states that the albino cat reported in the USA (and continental Europe) appears to not be the true albinism as seem in other species. The say the eye pupils are “ruby red” and the irises are “a pale milky-blue” instead of being pink.

There appears to be two types of albino cat: the milky blue iris albino cat and the complete pink-eyed albino cat (the true albino cat but correct me if I have this wrong).

The existence of the pink-eyed albino cat was mentioned in the 1930s. I’ll quote Robinson’s Genetics for the sake of certainty:

“The albino allele is inherited as a recessive to the full color (C) and by implication to all other albino alleles.”

The pink color of the albino cat’s eyes is a result of light “passing through the translucent tissue in the eye structures”.

There is a description of an albino Siamese-mix in India cat on this page.

Here is a photo of a cat called Kilo who is described as albino by his guardian:

His eyes are translucent. Read about him here.

Elfine, below is also describe as albino and the eyes are: “blue eyes with a pinkish rim”.

There appears to be more albino Siamese than either random bred or other cat breeds. The genetics of the Siamese cat are associated with those of the albino cat it seems.