These cats were born with heterochromia, a rare condition that causes the iris of both eyes to contain completely different colors. They might not be picture-perfect, but we think they look gorgeous.
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Heterochromia iridis literally translates from Greek as “differently colored irises”. Imaginative.
It’s usually caused by a misbehaving gene that also gives these cats their snowy white fur.
All kittens are born with blue eyes, but for these “odd-eyed” cats the melanin that comes along to add color to their eyes got confused and mismatched their irises.
There are no health risks linked with heterochromia, but if your cat was born with matching eyes and the pigment starts to change you should get it checked out.
Famous heterochromics include David Bowie, Kate Bosworth and Mila Kunis, so these kittens are in pretty good company.
And it’s definitely one of the most beautiful mutations we’ve ever seen.
People have said these cats’ eyes look as if there’s a whole universe inside there…
…but we know a tiny, blind owl who wouldn’t be too pleased to hear that (because he actually DOES have a universe in his eyes).
Interesting fact alert: As many as 30% of cats with heterochromia are deaf, again because of the gene mutation.
And legend says that the prophet Mohammed, founder of the Islamic faith, had a traditional Turkish angora cat with one blue and one gold eye.
We’re pretty sure these kittens aren’t worried about their eyes — they know they’re gorgeous.
