When Irish … er … GREEN Eyes Are Smiling!
Breeds Which Have Green Eyes
Susan Cook Henry
Every March, our thoughts often turn to the Emerald Isle when we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and its connection to the color green. Verdant landscapes, green clothing and beaded necklaces, green beer, shamrocks, and even a certain “green” river come to mind on this festive day. While a brilliant green color in Ireland is historically tied to religion, its popularity in this country on March 17 arose in the mid-19th century, when waves of Irish immigrants fleeing the Irish Potato Famine came to the United States.1
As for green in the cat world, you will find it is associated with the eye color on 39 of CFA’s 45 recognized breeds and its standards for pedigreed cats. The six exceptions are any breeds with “pointed” colors, e.g., coat colors in which the tips of the extremities (ears, face, tail, and legs) contrast with the overall lighter body color. These breeds include the Birman, Colorpoint Shorthair, and Siamese, which call for vivid or deep blue eye color. The Tonkinese breed has three color classifications: the ones with points must have blue eyes, while the mink colors call for aqua and the solid colors require green to yellow/green eyes.
But “how green is green?” How do the various breeds which allow or require green eye color describe and define the various hues of that color? CFA’s individual breed standards allocate points specifically for eye color in most of them, with eleven breeds giving no points whatsoever for that feature. So, let’s call attention to the CFA breeds in which green is the ONLY acceptable eye color, and the members of these unique cats’ breed councils take that part of their standard very seriously!2
HAVANA BROWN: This handsome chocolate-brown breed with its distinctive head style showcasing a prominent, narrow and rounded muzzle is instantly recognizable for those two important traits. A third quality, its eye color (valued at 5 points), is described as “any vivid and level shade of green; the deeper the color the better.” The standard calls for disqualification for “any eye color other than green.”
KORAT: Originating in Thailand in the 1300s, this blue cat with silver-tipped fur was a symbol of good luck and as such was often gifted to brides as “harbingers of luck and happiness.” The eye color is also valued at 5 points and calls for “luminous green preferred,” while allowing for an amber cast. Eye color continues to develop from kittenhood through adolescence, with the full eye color not usually developed until two to four years of age.
BURMILLA: A newer breed to CFA accepted for championship status in 2014, the Burmilla is a beautiful hybrid, resulting from an accidental encounter between a chinchilla silver Persian male with a lilac European Burmese female in 1981. Coat length can be long or short; the eyes are a very important feature of the breed, with placement, shape and color valued at 20 points. “Luminous and expressive … any shade of green,” with allowance made for a yellow tinge in kittens and young cats under two years of age. Incorrect eye color in adults results in disqualification.
ORIENTAL: This long, lean, and elegant breed has an extremely wide color palette, with more than 150 colors and patterns possible! Included in that palette are allowable pointed and pointed/white patterned cats, where blue is the defined eye color. White Orientals may have green, blue or odd eyes (one green, one blue), but any other color of Oriental must have green eyes. Eye color is valued at 10 points, with penalization for incorrect eye color.
RUSSIAN BLUE: Perhaps once the pets of Russian royalty and two English queens, the Russian Blue is believed to have originated in the Archangel Islands of northern Russia. Scandinavian breeders took the lead in developing the breed from the early 20th century until World War II. After the war, U.S. breeders began importing cats from Europe and gradually combined the English and Scandinavian bloodlines to make the Russian Blue what it is today. Its breed standard is the most concise of all of CFA’s breeds: their pale, silver-tipped short blue coats (40 points) and complementary “vivid green” eye color (10 points) comprise half of the points in the breed standard.
EGYPTIAN MAU: One of the oldest known breeds of cat, the Egyptian Mau lays claim to its ancestors being regarded as deities by the Pharaohs. The only natural domesticated breed of spotted cat, its color and pattern lend a strikingly exotic appearance, which comes in three colors: bronze, silver, and smoke. Most specific of all breeds, the Egyptian Mau calls for “gooseberry green” as the desired eye color, yet only worth 10 points. It also specifies ages by which this eye color should surface, since “some discernable color of green” must appear by the age of 8 months, and full green eye color by 1 year 6 months of age. An amber cast in the eye over that age is penalized, while lack of green eye color by that age (or blue eyes) is a disqualification.
If you fancy green-eyed cats, then one of these charmers may be right up your alley. Of course, cats’ eyes in any color and shape are “mesmer-EYE-zing,” so take a tour of the entire color palette included in CFA’s 45 recognized breeds and their standards of fabulous felines. You may envy the glorious green eyes possessed by some – unless you are among the 2% of humans who share their emerald glow!3
References:
- How Green Became Associated With St. Patrick’s Day and All Things Irish, by Olivia Waxman, Time Magazine, accessed January 7, 2025 https://time.com/4699771/green-irish-st-patricks-day-color/
- CFA Recognized Breeds, accessed January 7, 2025 https://cfa.org/breeds/
- Eye color percentages around the world, Medical News Today, accessed January 15, 2025 https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/eye-color-percentage#eye-color-around-the-world