Skyblue eyes Program
Odd eyed and blue eyes on our solid Brits....
no longer just a dream
Blue-eyed (non-white) cats were discovered almost 20 years apart and in almost exactly opposite regions of the world: the California Ojos Azules and the Kazakh Altay Blue-Eyes. In both cases, outcrossing showed that the blue-eyed genes were of the dominant type (compared to the normal yellow, copper, or green eye colors). In both cases there is at least one tiny white mark, usually on the tip of the tail, but it can also be a white medallion, white hind paws, or a white spot on the face (Locket) . Due to incomplete penetration of the gene, the size of the white mark ranges from a few hairs, to a large white patch (in homozygotes).
Currently, it is believed that the Altai Blue Eyes gene is an allele of the white spotting gene and that it is "weaker" compared to the common white spotting gene, which causes the well-known bicolor area. However, this has not been proven by DNA analysis and may also interact with the white-spotting gene. Genes code for proteins and any change in a protein can have different effects.
Altay
Olga Volynska was the first to notice blue-eyed cats in a factory, but her report was largely ignored because conventional wisdom said that blue-eyed colored cats could not exist. A few years later, the "Ojos Azules" were reported in a TICA journal. Lyubov Borisovna Zikeeva from Ust-Kamenogorsk noticed the blue-eyed cats on the street and decided to find out more. The first Ust-Kamenogorsk Altai was an ordinary, semi-long-haired domestic cat with white spots. The right eye was blue and the left eye was yellow-green. If the Ojos Azules could be recognized as a new breed because of the eye color and the small white markings, then possibly the Altay could be recognized too! The cat magazine "Friend" (issue no. 8/9 August-September 2004) reported that the first owner of an Altay cat was Vera Sokolova, who lived in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk in Kazakhstan. In 1995, she owned a black cat named Fyodor with blue eyes and a white tail tip, a phenotype similar to the American Ojos Azules discovered in California.
Lyubov Borisovna Zikeeva began to talk with Fyodor's owner and from him began the development of blue-eyed breed Altai, which lasted more than twenty years and continues to this day. After many unsuccessful matings, Mrs. Zikeeva was finally rewarded with the birth of a blue-eyed cat named Ariel, who is considered the progenitor of all living Altai cats.
Early Altai cats bred by Ms. Zikeeva include Roxy / Roksi (tabby with white hind feet and white throat); Grand Yegan (tabby, white cheeks and chin); Ekatarina (tabby with white hind feet and white throat); Nils (tabby, white paws, muzzle and throat). A blue-eyed Altai bred by Lubov Borisovna is Ellie Darling (black tuxedo pattern). Until 2016, not many breeders worked with the Altai. One of them is experienced breeder and veterinarian Elena Lobasova (Murmansk, Russian Federation), the other is Anna Kalinichenko (Zaporozhye, Ukraine). Breeding "Wonderful Aquamarine" (Grin LV and Kalinichenko AO, Ukraine) started breeding Altai cats in 2016 within the WCF registry.
It is of special importance to note that one must not mate two Altai cats with blue eyes or as odd eyed, because this can lead to deaf cats with a high percentage of white in the coat. So one should only mate animals with orange, copper, green or yellow eyes with these special animals to get healthy and strong offspring. In such a mating, about half of the offspring will be born with blue eyes/odd eyed or with eyes of a different color.
Altai cats are friendly and adapt well to their environment. They are active, energetic, outgoing and affectionate and interested in everything that is going on around them. They do not require excessive space and get along well with other animals. No special care or attention is required other than the normal care of a short haired cat. They are a perfect match for our Brits.
Spontaneous mutations, blue eyes, in Eastern Europe
But why did different blue-eyed genes "suddenly" appear in Russia and Ukraine? Most likely, they have always been in the cat population, but no one took notice. As Eastern European countries often develop their own "cat fantasies" and native cats become recognized breeds, these blue-eyed cats are finally getting the attention they deserve. Of course, this also means that this phenomenon did not just appear recently and all of a sudden, but many years ago! Only now this topic is becoming more and more in the spotlight and enjoys increasing popularity.
Rano Makarenko also found three blue-eyes cats in Aktau, a city at the Caspian Sea. Here are various photos of such animals from the rescues, which I show below.
Elizaveta Lipovenko had a spontaneous mutation (yessss, I know, mutations are ALWAYS spontaneous) in the British Shorthair cats in her silver line years ago, there blue-eyes and odd eyed Brits are born. Narumi & Naoki also have ancestors from this line! There are also other reports of such mutations in other lines of different breeds. It is as it always is: if you are pregnant, you see many pregnant ones... Similarly in this case, more and more reports of such spontaneous mutations are appearing little by little. Of course, there are now always breeders who claim that such a mutation would not be possible at all in pedigree cats and that surely an Altai cat was crossed in silently and secretly. Here, of course, the question arises: WHY should such mutations occur only in free-living cats? This would be similar to claiming that only certain ethnic groups can get cancer. I think everyone with some idea of genetics will agree with me, especially since there are sufficient reports of experience.
I myself had a chimera in one of my litters ... a male in chocolate-lilac-white. So mutations can occur always and everywhere!
AMERICAN OJOS AZULES
In the 1980s, cats with bright blue eyes were discovered among feral cat populations in New Mexico. In 1984, a tortie cat with "blue-eyes" named "Cornflower" was mated to a non-blue-eyed male. This subsequently resulted in litters of blue-eyed kittens, clearly showing that the trait was dominant. The breed was named "Ojos Azules", which is Spanish for "Blue Eyes".
Unlike the blue eyes observed in white cats, some bicolor and point cats, the Ojos Azules gene was not linked to a specific coat color or pattern. It also produced a deeper shade of blue in the eyes than in Point cats. Some breeders saw this as an opportunity to breed blue-eyed tabbies or even solid cats with blue/odd-eyes.
If the Ojos Azules gene is homozygous, skull deformities, white coat, a small curled tail and stillbirths will occur. When the gene is heterozygous, these lethal genetic mutations do not occur. This means that it must be avoided to mate two blue-eyed Ojos Azules, as I mentioned before.
The breed was approved for registration by TICA in 1991 for both long-haired and short-haired cats. By 1992, only ten Ojos Azules had been registered. The breed standard was last updated in 2004. Only the cats with deep blue eyes are called Ojos Azules, the other cats in the breeding program are "variants" and important for the health of the breed. The standard states, "The eye color should be clear blue or blue-gray, not turquoise or lavender. In Odd eyed animals, the second eye may be gold, copper or green. A deeper eye color is preferred.
Unfortunately, not all clubs still support breeding with the "new" dominant gene. I think this is a pity, because without such experiments, the color cinnamon would not exist in the British today. Also here another breed was crossed at that time... basically, without such experiments, there would be exclusively blue Brits!
Finally, it remains to say that the Blue-eyes program is an experimental breeding either way, no matter if the offspring are F2, F3 etc. or already have a pure British pedigree. Because the blue eyes are officially NOT yet recognized. Conclusion: in an experimental breeding there are no "100% correctly provable pedigrees", because often "street cats with blue eyes" have been crossed somewhere at some time and nobody knows for sure who the ancestors were. Such a thing is only possible up to a certain point, that should be clear to everyone.
I am very much looking forward to my future work with this gene and hope to be able to improve the type enormously in the long run and to breed odd eyed + blue eyes cats in different solid colors. Of course my special attention is always on the health!
Written: 2019
