Albino cat: description, character and features of the content. Albinism gene

For us Europeans, white represents purity and purity. And we would like to have a cat with such a snowy color in our house. A fluffy white fur coat – what could be cuter? It looks so original! But do we realize that such a pet could be an albino animal? A cat with a snow-white coat requires reliable protection and more careful care than its ordinary sisters of other colors.

Note that albinism and light coloring are far from the same thing. What's the difference? We will tell you this in our article. Many people think that all white cats have blue eyes. We will debunk this myth too. Having adopted an albino into our family, we must understand that such animals do not survive in the wild. Especially cats that get their food by tracking and sneaking up on game. But by selecting species and colors, man developed a white color. And therefore we are responsible for such animals.

How to communicate with such a cat?

Of course, keeping deaf cats has its own characteristics. Owners will have to get used to the fact that much of the behavior of such animals will be unusual for them. They will never be able to successfully hunt birds. They won’t make hunters, because you can’t explain to a cat that a bird hears when someone is creeping up on it. This means you need to sneak up on her as quietly as possible.

Side effects of beauty

It's time to talk about the changes in the albino body caused by a gene mutation. First of all, it is extremely low immunity. If you have an albino animal, be prepared for any infection to strike your pet. Therefore, you need to be careful in contact with other animals. By the way, deafness in white cats is caused by the W gene, not the C gene.

An albino is not always hard of hearing. But he probably has poor eyesight. Sunlight literally hurts the pigment-less iris. The animal loves to be in the shade, and there is no need to interfere with this desire. After all, the pink tips of the ears and nose can get sunburned. Animals with gene mutations react extremely sensitively to temperature changes. Both cold and heat are contraindicated for them. Try your best to protect your animal from drafts. Gene mutations cause problems with teeth and the musculoskeletal system.

Breeds

British

A beauty with a soft velvety coat. The cat's body is strong, muscular, with powerful paws. The face has the characteristic “smile” of the Cheshire cat. The cat's ears are erect and rounded, so do not confuse it with the Scottish Fold cat.

These cats do not require special attention. The exception is daily brushing. This is more pleasant to do than sweeping balls of wool out of your apartment every day. Despite the thick undercoat, it is necessary to protect your pet from drafts.

The character of the animal is special. It loves its owner dearly, but can endure separation for a long time without giving the appearance of being sad. Does not favor children and other animals in the house, but does not conflict with them either. He treats strangers coldly, but will never rush to scratch or bite.

If a cat does not want to communicate, calling it and catching it by forcefully holding it is useless. A Briton can allow himself to be caressed only when he wants to. You can scold and punish a cat only at the moment of committing a “dirty deed”, otherwise it will not understand why they are so unmerciful to it. It is absolutely forbidden to beat purebred British women: the animal is vindictive and will definitely come up with revenge for you.

Maine Coon

Maine Coons are special cats. They are the largest and longest in the world, have fluffy long hair and a very thick undercoat that protects them from severe frosts. Maine Coons have especially good fluffy pants on their hind legs and a collar. The pets' tail is simply gorgeous - like a white fan. The cat's body is muscular, strong, with long powerful legs.

By nature, Maine Coons are very good-natured. They adore children and other animals living in the house, and are distinguished by canine fidelity and devotion to their owners. Cats are active, rush around the apartment with toys, climb onto all the tall cabinets.

Breeders of this breed say that the Maine Coon needs a “hole” and a “mountain”. This means that the cat must have his own house where he will relax, and a sports complex in the form of a scratching post with turrets of various heights on which he will jump.

Turkish Angora

Blondes of this breed look very elegant. They have a slender body with well-developed muscles, a graceful long neck and a wedge-shaped head proportional to the body. The fluffy tail of extraordinary beauty resembles the feather of a snow-white fairytale bird.

The animals are smart and easy-going, love solitude and peace, are not particularly playful and are not too “talkative”. Suitable for those people who lead a measured lifestyle, without fuss and haste. Angoras do not require complex care. They carefully clean up the mess, not allowing the wool to roll into tangles.

Foreign white

This is the only breed of short-haired cat that has only one color - white. Slender, long-legged, well-built cats are small in size. The maximum weight of the animal is about 5 kg. The fur coat can be boiling white, and the muzzle has a color like that of a Siamese cat - the progenitor of this breed.

Foreign Whites are cheerful, kind and funny animals. Full of tireless energy, they are ready to play all day long and, like a devoted dog, run after you around the house. The best place to rest them is on your knees, neck and shoulders. They love to have a heart-to-heart talk, especially if they have something to complain about.

Persian

Representatives of this breed are the fluffiest. The head, body, tail and paws are all covered with soft hair, the length of which can be almost 12 cm. The body of Persian cats is squat, small, and the legs are short. The weight of an average cat reaches 7 kg, and because of its fluffy fur coat, it looks like 15 kg.

Snow-white Persian beauties are trusting, inquisitive and calm. Vanity and endless noise are not for them. Persians prefer to spend time on your lap and are ready to relax on them for hours. Cats treat guests and children with indifference and do not fight with other animals living in the house.

Devon Rex

These are amazing cats with a long elongated body, graceful high paws and cute soft curls on the body. You want to grab this charming Devon in your arms and endlessly cherish him, stroking his snow-white curls. Devons are cheerful, good-natured, sociable and talkative. Their angelic look fully matches their beautiful character.

The animals are endowed with high intelligence: they carry out simple commands from their owner and are even able to fetch slippers. They are loyal and good friends to everyone who is close to them; they cannot stand loneliness and suffer when separated from their family.

Albino animals in the wild

This kind of gene anomaly significantly complicates the life of its carrier, since the lack of camouflage coloring makes the process of survival in nature quite difficult. For example, how can you hunt and get food, having a beautiful snow-white coat, which makes the owner stand out from the pack of natural colors? Moreover, it is not an easy task to hide from predators.

It's sad that albino animals are very poorly valued among their relatives when it comes to lovemaking and procreation.

When selecting a partner, the female pays attention to the bright, rich coloring of the male, as it guarantees that the offspring will be protected in terms of camouflage in nature and healthy. Therefore, a white tiger or a peacock with pink eyes has absolutely nothing to count on

It often happens that such individuals have no offspring at all.

Problems with food, finding a “other half” and easy accessibility to agile predators are reducing the albino population. In most cases, albino animals have poor vitality, as they are extremely sensitive to sunlight and have problems with hearing and vision. In addition to not being accepted into the pack, such animals are at high risk of skin cancer.

Throughout their lives, albinos have reduced immunity, so their body is susceptible to various infections. It should be noted that, with the exception of their amazing color, albinos are no different from their counterparts.

People, unlike their fellow albinos, go crazy over beautiful and unusual animals with the rarest colors. Many beliefs and secrets shroud snow-white individuals. Since ancient times in Siberia, albinos were called “princelings” and there were various superstitions about them. For example, commercial hunters believed that hunting an animal devoid of melanin would certainly bring success and happiness. There is a legend about a Prairie horse with a snow-white color, who was the ruler of huge herds of mustangs.

In Thailand, only royalty had the right to own white tigers or elephants. In India, Raja Mohan, having one white tiger cub, bred a whole line of albino tigers, devoid of natural natural pigment.

It is interesting that if a mixture of albinos occurs in nature, then a whole generation of albino animals is born and a new species is created - scientists have noticed this fact in the trumpeter pigeon and ferrets.

Albino health

The health of albino cats is more fragile than that of normal cats. For example, snow-white pets are more at risk than others of catching a cold or getting allergies. Therefore, walks on the windowsill in winter will have to be limited so that the cat does not catch a cold. In addition, the eyes, ears and tip of the nose of albinos are very sensitive to sunlight: even a short stay in the sun can cause burns.

The immune system

The immunity of albinos is very weak. The slightest draft can cause a cold. Therefore, albino cats are usually not kept with other animals to avoid the possibility of contracting an infection. Snow-white pets must be vaccinated in a timely manner (as prescribed by a veterinarian) in order to maintain their fragile health.

Hearing and vision

As mentioned above, albinism (that is, a pronounced W gene) often leads to absolute deafness of the animal. This is due to the fact that the gene suppresses not only the production of melanin, but is also associated with the functioning of some internal organs. There are frequent cases of the birth of completely blind kittens, which even with age have not acquired the ability to see.

Therefore, the owner of the albino needs to check in advance whether the kitten has problems with hearing and vision. The hearing test is carried out as follows: you need to move some distance from the animal and clap your hands loudly or use some object to make a sharp noise. A kitten, if it is not deaf, will definitely turn its head towards the source of noise or begin to twitch its ears. You can test your eyesight with any cat toy: even the smallest kittens will happily look after a feathered wand or a wind-up mouse and try to catch it.

A kitten with normal vision will definitely follow the toy

Musculoskeletal system

Due to DNA abnormalities, snow white cats often suffer from various diseases associated with the musculoskeletal system. It is important to periodically (as prescribed by a veterinarian) undergo the necessary examinations in order to avoid diseases in your pet that may be associated with disorders in cartilage and bone tissues. Because of this, problems with teeth/claws may also occur.

How to distinguish an albino from a white cat

If a meowing pet has blue, orange or green eyes, then it is not an albino. True albino cats have pink or pale bluish-pink eyes and are very sensitive to light. When light hits the eyes, they appear pink-red because blood vessels become visible. It should be taken into account that with partial albinism, animals have pale blue eyes, which causes difficulties in determining the mutation by external signs.

Albinos are completely absent or have small amounts of pigment cells (melanocytes), and white individuals have melanocytes, but are masked by the mutant W gene. Such animals are characterized by bright blue, blue eyes, heterochromia is sometimes observed, and they are more common than individuals with other color suffer from deafness.

There are 5 alleles for albinism: blue-eyed (ca*), pink-eyed (c), Burmese (cb), Siamese (Cs), solid (C, dominant over all alleles).

*the first symbol is a dominant gene, the second is a recessive gene.

It is noteworthy that the Siamese depends on body temperature. The colder the area of the body, the darker it is. Among the Siamese, white, blue-eyed individuals can be born, which are usually called foreign whites (foreign white). Individuals with partial albinism have light blue eyes. The tapetum glows red rather than green in low light.

What is the albinism gene

This is taught in school: the color of eyes and skin, as well as hair (or fur) in humans and any animal is determined by a pigment called melanin. It is melanin that gives us brown eyes or dark skin, and gives animals a variety of colors.

Melanin has two types:

eumelanin, the molecules of which quickly absorb the light of the sun and therefore give everything a black color, for example, eumelanin is found in large quantities in the hair, iris of the eyes and skin tissues of people of the Negroid race;
pheomelanin has the ability to reflect sunlight and therefore gives a color in yellow-orange shades, less often in red.

As a matter of fact, the mixture of these two types of melanin is capable of giving rise to a variety of types of colors in animals.

However, albinism is not a separate type of melanin, but its complete absence in tissues. The main sign of albinism in both humans and animals is considered to be the absence of hair color. In addition, they do not have any iris color. The iris simply reflects sunlight, and therefore you can almost always see the inside of the eyeball and blood vessels, which is why albinos always have red eyes.

Albinos have no color other than white.

Albinism (from the Latin word albus, meaning “white”) is a congenital absence of pigment in the skin, hair, and iris of the eyes.

In fact, the albinism gene is extremely rare in animals. Albinism is the result of the absence or abnormal development of genes in the body that are responsible for the production of melanin. It is important that these same genes are also responsible for the formation of other cellular structures in the body, which is why albino cats are often born deaf or have vision problems.

Thus, real albinos in the animal world are completely white, without a single dark hair, individuals with pink or red eyes. In addition, the albinism gene is recessive, that is, it is inherited only if both parents were albinos. If there is only one albino in a pair, then the kitten will be born with a normal color.

Complete and partial albinism in nature

Zoologists distinguish two types of albinism - complete and partial. Full albinos are cats that are devoid of any colors other than white; partial albinos have melanin in some parts of the body. With partial albinism, only spots of pigmentation will be visible on the animal's body.

Gene W

In zoology, the W genome is a malfunction of pigments, resulting in a dominant white color. This gene completely suppresses all manifestations of melanin. That is, unlike full albinos, there is melanin in the cat’s body, but it is hidden by the W gene.

But it is impossible to completely hide it, so in white animals the color pigment appears in the iris of the eyes. While albinos have pink or red eyes, white cats with the W gene may have blue, cyan, or different colored irises.

Different eye colors in a pet are a sign of the presence of the W gene

The W gene is often accompanied by absolute deafness. If a cat has one eye green and the other blue or blue, then often this mutation indicates that the pet hears only with one ear. The results of the Cornell University Feline Health Center's deafness research are as follows:

17–22% of white cats with non-blue eyes are born deaf;
40% of white cats with different eyes are born deaf;
65–85% of all-white cats with both blue eyes are deaf from birth.
Most white blue-eyed cats are deaf from birth.

Video: albinism in animals

Albino cats are sensitive to light

The lack of pigmentation in true albino cats is due to their inability to produce melanin. Melanin does more than contribute to skin tone. In cats, as well as other creatures including humans, melanin has a number of functions. For cats, melanin gives color to the skin, coat and eyes. In the eyes alone, it also helps in depth perception. On a more holistic level, it helps in the body's ability to fight infection and disease.

Most importantly, melanin's role in giving color to the eyes, skin and coat, and the complete absence of albino cats means that they are very sensitive to light. Albino cats may not have other health-related problems, but direct sunlight is harmful to their vision and potentially breaks down their skin with long-term exposure. Owners of Albino cats should be very careful about the cat's exposure to direct sunlight.

Character of white cats

Such animals feel inferior. Therefore, they become very attached to humans, feeling that without their owner they will definitely not survive. They are affectionate and flexible. They may be less playful than their normally colored counterparts. But you can’t call them lazy either. These are very sensitive creatures. Sometimes their angelic character towards their owners and close friends does not fit in with their gloominess in the presence of strangers. An albino cat is somewhat cowardly by nature. Awareness of her inferiority makes her anxious and suspicious.

Deaf or not?

There is a claim that blue-eyed cats are deaf. Snow-white pets, indeed, are found to be completely or partially deaf, since the W gene, which dominates the other genes of the animal, has pleiotropic abilities - it directly affects the color of the coat, iris and the formation of hearing organs. This does not mean that absolutely all white cats with blue eyes will not hear you. Green-eyed, yellow-eyed and heterochromic (with different eye colors) kittens may also suffer from a similar pathology.

If you come across a white deaf cat, do not despair. Animals are distinguished by their kindness and gentle character. Active and sociable, such cats willingly play, hunt mice and rush around the apartment like ordinary cats. You can determine that an animal is deaf very simply:

turn on the vacuum cleaner next to the kitten: a deaf animal does not react to loud sounds;
the cat is very “loud”: loudly sneaks behind the bird, digs in the tray, meows.

The behavior of an animal largely depends on its character and how correctly you raise it.

Such a cat does not require special living conditions, but when communicating with a deaf animal, it is important to remember the following nuances:

carefully open and close all doors, otherwise you may injure the cat - she does not hear your actions; keep the windows closed: a deaf cat has no sense of fear and can jump down; do not let your cat go outside alone, it is dangerous; move around the house carefully, watch your step so as not to step on the animal; communicate with your pet using conventional gestures.

Cats suffering from deafness become very attached to their owner. They are completely dependent on people and need constant help.

Caring for white cats: features

If you decide to get such a pet, be prepared for frequent visits to the veterinarian. Albinos are very sickly and require special care. In addition to pathologies of internal organs, they have extremely sensitive eyes and exposed skin to sunlight. And wool can be damaged by aggressive ultraviolet radiation. The blue eyes of a white cat almost certainly indicate that she is deaf. This is dangerous, because the animal cannot avoid danger by reacting to noise. It is better not to let such a cat outside.

Dream Interpretation - Eyes

The appearance of the eyes, the quality of vision are signs of the dreamer’s state of mind, the intensity of the dreamer’s spiritual life, their health, illness. The dreamer's own organs of love, his sex, potency. Having good vision and moving your eyes quickly is a blessing, happiness, health. It’s hard to see, it’s hard to open your eyes. They slowly toss and turn - loss, poverty, harm from sexual exhaustion. Being nearsighted is a nuisance. Feeling pain in the eyes, sand in them or something bothering you is an unpleasant self-knowledge, a bad conscience. Having a thorn is a deception. You will have to take a lot of care for adult children; they will not go out into public life soon. Losing one eye means complicated affairs, useless work, misfortunes with children. The eye leaks in a dream - pangs of conscience. Going blind in a dream means trouble, betrayal, death of loved ones: children or sister. Rubbing your eyes is a sign of masturbation. Seeing in the mirror that you have big beautiful eyes is happiness (happiness is in children). That you have dull, sore eyes means misfortune (anxiety about children). Seeing yourself in the mirror with colorless or white eyes means realizing the soullessness of your behavior. With eyes bulging out of their sockets - petrification of the soul, callousness. Seeing yourself in a mirror with holes instead of eyes means loyalty to intuition, deep insight, clairvoyance. With burning eyes - you feel dangerous, demonic forces within yourself. Seeing your eyes fall out means a wedding, children will begin an independent life. Taking out and examining your eyes means a feeling of the falsity of your perceptions, a wrong idea of the world. See your children from a new perspective, your intimate life will become the subject of conversation. Having a third eye in a dream means giving birth to a child. For a woman: pregnancy. There is a danger of destroying what you have created with your labors. Use the light from your eyes to illuminate your path - to begin to perceive the world in a new way. Seeing as if some creature is chasing you and trying to eat your eyes means experiencing inconvenience and trouble from other people’s secrets. A warning against the dangerous development of spiritual powers, dangerous spiritual immaturity. Seeing the human eye on a table, in a bowl, glass, etc. - shameful details of your life will be revealed, and you will feel fear of divine justice. Seeing a bunch of human eyes are precious stones. Seeing eyes with eyesores means your enemies are closely watching you. Seeing someone's evil gaze is a bad dream, foreshadowing a dangerous collapse of plans, deception, most likely occurring from relatives. To see only someone's eyes in the darkness - the hard work of your conscience, hidden from you, will yield unexpected results; someone is watching you. To see dull ghost eyes in daylight without a body is an unpleasant, painful split personality to experience. Seeing a brightly sparkling eye in the clouds in the sky is a symbol of authority that should be obeyed. To gouge out someone's eyes is to scare away and turn people against you, and you will suffer severely from jealousy.

Color options

All snow-white Bengals are very similar and beautiful in their own way, however, they differ in genotype.

Links

These beauties were born as a result of crossing Bengal breeds with Siamese cat breeds. Their body is completely white with small beige markings called points. The difference between the background and the pictures is almost invisible, however? the spots are quite pronounced.

This cat breed has blue eyes that turn ruby when flashed. Lynx Point babies are born almost white and remain that way for a long time. Only after 75 days can faint manifestations of the spots be seen, however, only after a year the pattern will be quite noticeable. Lynxes not only have a brown tint to the tip of their tail and nose, but also the pads of their paws and the rims of their eyes.

Sepia

This type of cat appeared as a result of crossing Bengals and Burmese. Sepia are considered the darkest representatives among snow Bengals. Their body is not completely white, rather creamy. The fur is “decorated” with bright cinnamon-colored spots. In those sepia that have a solid color, the difference between the body and the spots is completely indistinguishable. Just like the Lynx, the tip of the tail and other parts of the body have a brown tint.

Minky

This type of cat has a Tonkinese color, which is also called “mink”. Many people call this type of animal marbled. It appeared as a result of crossing Siamese and Burmese breeds. At birth, kittens already have patterns on their bodies. The body is cream colored and has brown and dark orange markings. In all other respects, they are similar to other subspecies of Bengal cats. Their eyes can be blue, green, or with a golden tint.

How to choose the right albino cat

When choosing an albino, you need to know exactly all the signs by which you can distinguish an albino from an ordinary white cat:

An albino may only have pink, red or pale blue-red eyes. All other shades of the iris are a sign of ordinary white cats.
Bright color of the eyes, nose or paw pads is a sign that this is an ordinary white cat.
When light hits the iris of the eyes, the blood vessels of the eyeball are visible in albinos, but not in an ordinary white cat.
The paw pads and tip of the nose are also white in albinos, but in normal white cats they may be pink or gray.
Albinos are inherently shy and withdrawn in the presence of strangers.

Albino kittens can appear in cats of many different breeds. But there is no point in contacting breeders or clubs: the likelihood of an albino appearing is extremely low. Therefore, when deciding to become the owner of a snow-white cat, you need to carefully read advertisements for the sale of such kittens from a variety of breeders. The cost of albino cats may vary depending on the region of sale and the original breed of the parents.

Another option for getting an albino is to adopt a pet from a shelter. Some owners, faced with the fact that their pet is deaf or blind, simply hand it over to an animal shelter.

In the shelter you can find an albino who was abandoned by his owners

Deafness of white cats

Often among white cats there are deaf representatives. The phenomenon of deafness in white cats is explained by the same genetics. In the cat's inner ear, sound sensations are created thanks to a special fluid secreted by cells. This fluid is called endolymph. Cells that lack pigment cannot function normally, they do not secrete enough endolymph, so the cat has hearing problems. With this mutation, the organ of Corti degenerates within a few days at birth.

The formation of the hearing organs in kittens begins from 6 to 14 days. Transport of melanoblasts occurs in the first 5 days, so kittens even have an idea of what sound is. The lack of hearing in such cats is more than compensated for by other sensations. White fluffies do not feel any discomfort or inconvenience.

It is worth noting that deafness in white cats can be either complete or partial. This is very easy to recognize. Cats with blue eyes are almost guaranteed to be deaf. Blue eyes indicate that the retina has not received enough pigmented cells capable of secreting endolymph in sufficient quantities. Cats with different eyes will be deaf in the ear that is located on the side of the blue eye.

How to determine if a kitten can hear?

If you have a white pet in your house and you doubt its hearing, you can check it as follows - stand behind the kitten, pick up a piece of paper and remember it a little so that it makes a rustling sound. See how the kitten reacts - which ear it moves, which side it turns.

If the baby does not respond to the sound, do not be upset. Cats with hearing problems are no different from their hearing relatives; many owners live with hearing-impaired cats for several years and don’t even notice it. However, do not forget that deaf animals require special care and attention.

With blue eyes

Just don't confuse blue with blue. Felines can also have blue eyes, and they do not mean the presence of any mutation. It is believed that blue-eyed cats are born deaf . In reality, this does not always happen. Studies have shown that about thirty percent of born snow-white cats with blue eyes hear normally. But the remaining seventy really have hearing problems.

To find out what percentage your pet falls into, you need to have it examined at a specialized veterinary clinic that has all the necessary equipment. Do not fall into despair if you find out that your pet is unlucky and has joined the number of deaf cats.

But for you, as the owner, it will be necessary to take into account the peculiarity of the animal. Basically the problem is that if the cat has disappeared somewhere, then you will not be able to call him. He simply won’t hear his name, and he doesn’t know his name either, since he’s never heard it. To somehow protect the cat and create additional opportunities for yourself to find it, you can put a collar with a bell on it.

Dream Interpretation - Eyes

If anyone sees an eye on his hand, he will receive a certain amount of hard cash. If a poor person sees himself blind in a dream, he will be freed from the burdens of need. And if an important person, while traveling, sees himself blind in a dream, he should abandon that trip. If he continues on his way, he will not return from this journey back

If a person on a journey sees one extra eye in his dream, he will get lost, and if a person staying in one place sees such a dream, he should take great precautions to protect his property. If someone sees in a dream that he is rubbing his eyes with antimony, then he will work to educate himself in the truths of faith and will exalt himself in the eyes of people; if he sees antimony on his hand, he will receive property

Description

What can be said about albinos? These are truly unique creatures. Genetic failure can occur in absolutely any species, and humans are no exception.

The phenomenon has not yet been fully studied and scientists regularly inform us about new discoveries. According to the latest data, a certain enzyme called “Tyrosinase” is responsible for the synthesis of melanin in the body.

It is from this substance that the correct (according to genetic memory) coloring of all tissues should occur. During the formation of genes responsible for tyrosinase, completely different failures can occur and lead to different results. As a result, we get a creature either with complete and pronounced albinism, or with partial albinism, affecting one or more areas of the body.

Interestingly, albino cats are somewhat less common than male cats. But if we talk about cats, then you can also find other pathologies, such as deafness. If you want to learn how to distinguish a real albino from an ordinary white cat, then look into his eyes. If you see pink pupils looking at you, then you are dealing with a genetic mutation. Why pink? No, this pink pigment was not developed as a result of a gene mutation. In fact, the pupils are transparent and blood vessels are visible through them.

Albinism may not be complete, but partial. In this case, the animal may have a partially colored body, or it may even have a standard appearance for its genus, but will have red irises. It will not be easy for an ordinary person unfamiliar with scientific research to understand all the intricacies of genetic anomalies.

But it is not our task to understand the nature of this kind of thing and their elimination. But what should you do if you come across a member of the cat family who was unlucky enough to be born with a genetic defect? How is it different from its relatives?

"White crow"

We have already said that an albino cat is extremely rare. This gene mutation dooms the carrier to an early death. In the wild, an animal with a snow-white coat is an easy prey for a predator. And if the albino himself feeds on game, then it will be extremely difficult for him to sneak up on it unnoticed. His relatives do not favor completely white individuals either. After all, when mating, the female will give preference to a brightly colored partner.

Albinism manifests itself not only in the complete absence of melanin. Gene failure brings with it a whole bunch of diseases. These are, first of all, reduced immunity and partial or complete deafness. The pink eyes of albino cats are not protected, and therefore their vision is very weak. Delicate white skin is especially affected by ultraviolet radiation. After all, melanin is a natural protection against sun rays. In short, in the wild, albino individuals are extremely rare and die at a young age.

Attitude towards a person

The decorative albino rat is a tame and loving animal. He is trainable, cunning and intelligent. Many owners claim that the rat quickly learns to open the lock on the cage. She thinks quickly, and is significantly different from her dark brothers. Watching your pet play is a pleasure. The Internet is full of videos where albinos willingly perform various tricks, climb around the room, and simply live.

A kind and gentle rat loves its owner. I’m ready to spend whole days on my hands, knees, or in my pocket. Having settled comfortably on a person, she shows her affection with all her appearance. She climbs into her arms to be stroked on her back.

Regular communication with your pet can be turned into training. The rat quickly remembers its name and the names of its cage neighbors. It is better to train animals to communicate with other pets gradually and carefully.

Deafness

It all depends on the genotype of the animal, and not its appearance. Albinos are characterized by congenital deafness, but there are exceptions. Of course, deafness is more common in blue-eyed white cats, but not all of them are born exclusively deaf. Such animals are not albinos, it’s just that white turned out to be the dominant color and under other conditions they could have been born of any other color.

All kittens are born blue-eyed, and the color develops gradually. Some white kittens develop orange, green, or heterochromia eyes as they age. Individuals with blue eyes are likely to be deaf in both ears, while individuals with one blue eye are likely to be deaf in only one ear on the side of the blue eye. The likelihood that kittens will grow up with normal hearing is higher for kittens born with a dark spot on the head, which disappears with age.

Rarely are deaf individuals with spotted white fur. The white spotting gene is semi-dominant, the spots are indistinguishable, and the cat appears completely white.

What is the notorious W gene

This pigmentation disorder is also called “dominant white.” The gene suppresses the manifestation of melanin. Unlike albinos, in ordinary white cats the color pigment is present, but hidden. However, it appears in the iris. While albinos have pink eyes, white cats with the W mutation may have blue, intense blue, or even different colors. Such a gene failure is often accompanied by deafness.

If a cat has one eye blue and the other green, then it most likely cannot hear in the ear that is closer to blue. All of these genes responsible for the manifestation of a lack of coat pigmentation (whether it is albinism or “dominant white”) are recessive. This means that if such an animal is crossed with an ordinary representative of their species, healthy puppies, rabbits, etc. will be born. Therefore, those types of cats that, according to the breed standard, are supposed to be snow-white are extremely valued. This is, first of all, the Turkish Angora. There are a number of oriental breeds where the white color is a separate standard.

Dream Interpretation - Wounded Kitten

Hello, perhaps the kitten means something broken inside you. Some feelings. You decide to fix it. Perhaps it is about the vulnerable side, about the child inside you that you want to save. This may be opposed by the more mature side of you. Later, the “child” will occupy all the space of your soul. He will be healed by defeating your mature, passionate nature (cat - female passion, female essence). Front paws can mean inability to act, a difficult situation in which further forward movement is difficult or impossible. Or a kitten is some kind of person in need of help. At first you (the cat) will be angry with him, but then you will accept him. However, it can harm you. A cat can also mean another person, such as a friend. Or this person will take up all the space in your life, and you will have to change your social circle or get rid of some character traits. It is also possible that you will meet a person who will relieve you of loneliness. A more correct option, it seems to me, is this: the fact that you took a kitten (that is, a stray) into your home means that you integrated it into yourself, accepted its qualities and way of life. If you quit your job, then it may indicate that you yourself are becoming “homeless” - that is, you are changing the way of your life, depriving yourself of your usual environment. Broken paws then mean uncertainty in life, instability. Then the cat is a mature nature, accustomed to feeling independent - that is, a person who knows that he has a job and money, and is self-confident. At first you will be afraid of change, then you will accept it (changed color). Then, perhaps, new abilities will open up for you or new opportunities will appear (easily jumps and runs). A tabby kitten is a situation with positive and negative sides. You may be able to find some benefit in your situation. And you may even forget about your independence (the cat has disappeared) and start a new life. On the other hand, you may be able to take a new look at the world, but this situation will still bother you (look for a cat - that is, independence - work). The kitten jumps and runs briskly - you may also take action (look for work). You may feel a little dependent. Do you have relatives who can help you? Perhaps you should be a “kitten” for now until your inner “cat” returns? Good luck! Interpretation of dreams from the Dream Interpretation of the House of the Sun

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