No, I can't touch up photos in Photoshop and so haven't changed the color of one of the eyes of the cat in the photo above. I came across this cat at Matharpacady at Mazgaon in Bombay with each eye of a different color and took this photo with my friend Mark's digital SLR. Having seen many cats with differently colored eyes and wondering the scientific reason behind this, I looked it up and found the following...This condition is called "Heterochromia" and is used to describe a multi-colored iris within the same eye, or two eyes with distinctly different colored irises. This is commonly seen in cats, horses and some breeds of dogs but is rare in humans. In this condition, the vision is completely normal and heterochromia is not considered a medical problem.
Heterochromia in humans can be hereditary, caused by a disease or syndrome, or due to an injury. According to Wikipedia, notable celebs having heterocromia are David Bowie, Christopher Walken, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Seymour, Mila Kunis, and Kate Bosworth. For more information on heterochromia look up Wikipedia here.
The first time I saw a dog with such eyes was 7 years ago when I came across a female stray dog at Kemps Corner and took it for sterilization. Her one eye was blue and the other one was brown. She was really very sweet and readily came with me wagging her fantail. After we left her back I used to see her all over, sometimes on Hughes Road or at Walkeshwar or on Peddar Road and at her original location. She was quite a wanderer and the only way I used to recognize her was because of her eyes. Unfortunately, she passed away last week.
9 comments:
Wait until you meet Pitirsu. Its true that Turkish Van cats with different colored eyes are usually deaf. But I am certain that the deafness is valid only for the Van cats. I have seen a different colored eyes kitty around here, not deaf at all :-)
Ain't she pretty. I love her!
Selma : Yes, she is very cute and pretty . Didn't know about the deafness.. wonder if all those dogs and cats I have seen with heterochromia were deaf.
Abodh. A ten-question interview for Metroblogging Mumbai, please? I have done an interview with Fizzah Shah, I'd love to ask you the same questions to know what you think about them. It might help increase awareness about the animal rights organisations in Mumbai.
Let me know. I'll be coming back here to check the comment box :-)
Yes, as long as you dont ask for my photo and focus on the organisation and the cause.
Done - no picture. A little bit about you? Nothing too personal. Anything about the organisation you'd like to see on Metroblogs - I'm here to put it up.
please email me on entrancetotheshrine@gmail.com, i can get back to you that way as you have no email published :-|
My kitty has the same thing! She is all white though, with one blue eye and one hazel/green.
I have a white short hair cat with one amber eye & one blue. I understand that often the ear on the blue eye side sometimes is also deaf, but not always. She hears very well. I also have her littermate sister , which is also all white with medium fur and light gray blue eyes. She is totally deaf. I also have the mother which is all white with blue eyes. Her hearing is fine. The vet said 10% of all white cats with blue eyes are deaf. Therefore all my cats are totally indoor cats. The mother cat also had a previous litter with a all white kitten with bi-color eyes.
A pic of my kitten, bear. He's a cool little guy. His hearing is fine in both ears. Very active little bugger.
http://s898.photobucket.com/albums
/ac185/warm-machine/?action=view&
current=HPIM0394.jpg
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