Why do most black cats have yellow eyes?
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Why do most black cats have yellow eyes?

black cat eyes

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ANSWER: Black cats have a high content level of melanin (pigment). Melanin comes in two varieties: brown-black eumelanin and red-yellow pheomelanin.

Where there is little pigment in the iris, the eyes are blue due to the refraction of light and not pigmentation. However, if the iris contains a predominance of phenomelanin the eye is yellow. A predominance of eumelanin makes the eye darker (copper).

The high melanin content in black cats results in a high phenomelanin content in their eyes making them yellow.

I don’t know why there is more phenomelanin than eumelanin in the eyes of black cats.

I welcome any alternative thoughts on this topic.

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About Michael Broad

Michael is retired! He retired at age 57 and at Aug 2018 is approaching 70. He worked in many jobs. The last job he did was as a solicitor practicing general law. He loves animals and is passionate about animal welfare. He also loves photography and nature. He hates animal abuse. He has owned and managed this site since 2007. There are around 13k pages so please use the custom search facility!

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Why do most black cats have yellow eyes? — 1 Comment

  1. I love the study of feline eye color. There are black cats with green, blue, turquoise, copper, amber and yellow eyes. Eye color is so unique. Yellow eyes too are amazingly individual. Every cat is different. 😎💜💜🐾

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