Albino Cat

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• Pink-eyed albino appears to be recessive to all of the other albino mutations. Albinism is not linked to deafness in cats ("dominant white" (W) is the gene linked to deafness). In 1927, judge Mrs Basnett reported on the Paris Cat Show held on 14th and 15th of January by the Cat Club de France and wrote "One lady brought for my inspection a Siamese Albino of about 4 months; I could not see a trace of any shading anywhere on the white coat, tail, legs, ears or mask; the eyes were a very beautiful blue, and their fiery centre seemed to be accentuated by the absence of all shading. In appearance it was a very typical Siamese with the long sleek body and whip tail, and a very beautiful wedge-shaped head and face." (this is the type we are breeding now.
• More recently an Albino Siamese has been bred, though only time will tell if it will be perpetuated as a breed. It is a completely white Siamese-type cat with bluish-pink eyes (true "pink eyes" are uncommon due to the physical structure of a cats' eyes). The "European Albino" bred in Belgium is a European shorthair type white cat with ruby-red eyes which have pale translucent blue irises. The albino cats reported in Europe and the USA seem to be intermediate between pink-eyed albino and blue-eyed albino. A true pink-eyed albino was reported in 1931 and again in 1980s in the USA.
  
• In the Ojos Azules cat, typified by blue eyes in combination with colours other than white or colourpoint, the homozygous form of the gene appears to cause dead albino kittens.
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  An albino kitten was born at Chelmsford Cats Protection League shelter in the 1990s and required handrearing. It was described as white furred and having very pale pink ears, nose leather and paw pads though I have no information on its long term survival. Albino kittens have turned up more recently in the Bengal breed, unsurprising since albinism is found in the Asian Leopard Cat (the wild parent of the Bengal).