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While green eyes are rare in humans, they’re fairly common in cats.
This eye color can look striking, especially in cats with black fur, since green creates a strong contrast.
Green eyes and black fur aren’t unusual, and several breeds can have these traits.
Let’s have a look at black cats with green eyes.
Can Black Cats Have Green Eyes?
The answer is yes. Black is the most common coat color in cats, and green eyes are among the most frequent eye colors, along with yellow, amber, and hazel.
Both traits are the result of pigmentation. A black coat comes from the presence of eumelanin in a cat’s hair-producing glands.
The gene that causes the glands to produce eumelanin is dominant, which means a kitten only needs to receive this gene from one parent to grow black fur.
Green eyes stem from low levels of melanocytes in the iris. Melanocytes are cells that produce melanin. A cat with a high level of melanocytes will develop orange or hazel eyes.
Lower levels of melanin lead to green eyes, while a cat with no melanocyte activity will have blue or pink irises.
Kittens have blue eyes because their melanocytes aren’t active yet. Their final eye color should appear around twelve weeks of age.
Note that there are no connections between the genes that result in eumelanin production and low levels of melanocytes.
A kitten can inherit both traits from its parents, but a black coat and green eyes are isolated characteristics.
Cat Breeds With Black Hair and Green Eyes
While black hair and green eyes are common in many cat breeds, these two traits appear more frequently in the following breeds:
Bombay
The Bombay cat is the result of breeding Burmese cats with American Shorthairs selected for their black coat.
The idea behind this pairing was to obtain a cat with a deep black coat and the slender morphology of the Burmese cat.
Since eumelanin comes from a dominant gene, nearly every single Bombay cat has a black coat.
Breeders tend to prefer copper eyes, but Bombay cats have eyes that range from yellow to copper, with green being fairly common.
American Shorthair
American Shorthairs became a popular breed thanks to their unparalleled mouse-hunting skills.
American Shorthairs are the descendent of the Domestic Shorthairs that the first pilgrims brought to America to prevent rodent infestations.
There are as many as 80 different coat variations for this breed, with black, brown, and red being the most common colors.
Blue, gold, and hazel eyes tend to be common, but you’ll also come across American Shorthairs with green eyes.
Japanese Bobtail
This Japanese breed looks unusual with its short tail. White calicos with orange and black patches are the most common color you’ll see, especially in Japan, where people consider these tri-color cats a symbol of good luck.
However, calico cats can give birth to kittens with a solid coat, which makes black Japanese Bobtails fairly common.
Since blue and green are the two most frequent eye colors for this breed, the black coat and green eye combination is likely.
Cornish Rex
The Cornish Rex is a unique breed that has a thin and sometimes curly undercoat. These cats resulted from a mutation that caused the hair to become curly.
Breeders later mixed these cats with Siamese cats, a match that gave the Cornish Rex breed its long tail and ears.
The official breed standard includes several solid and patterned coats, with black being commonplace. These cats typically have bright eyes.
Gold and blue are the two most common colors, with blue eyes likely resulting from their Siamese ancestry. However, you will also find Cornish Rex cats with green eyes.
Egyptian Maus
The Egyptian Maus is an elegant and athletic breed. These cats resemble Burmese and Siamese cats, but they stand out thanks to their spotted coat.
A spotted coat is a highly desirable trait in an Egyptian Maus, and it can come in silver, bronze, or smoke. However, the official breed standard also recognizes solid coat colors that include black.
Breeders can’t show solid-coat Egyptian Maus cats, but these cats can become breeding stock.
Since the black coat gene is dominant, it’s not unusual to see black Egyptian Maus cats.
Almost all cats from this breed have striking green eyes, a light green color that breeders often describe as gooseberry green.
Norwegian Forest Cat
This majestic breed is originally from Northern Europe and can withstand extreme temperatures thanks to its long and thick coat.
These cats come in a wide range of coat colors and patterns. Solid coats are frequent, but you’ll also see tabby and tortoiseshell cats.
The white tabby pattern is the most common, but black Norwegian Forest Cats are easy to find.
These fluffy cats have large, almond-shaped eyes that can be blue, copper, or green.
British Shorthair
The British Shorthair looks adorable with its stocky morphology and small ears. These cats have a coat that feels dense to the touch.
The most common color is blue, which results from a dilution of the gene that causes a black coat.
Two parents with a blue coat can’t have a kitten with a black coat, but plenty of British Shorthairs carry the black coat gene.
The official breed standard states that the eyes can be green or blue-green, which makes these cats one of the most common breeds with green eyes.
American Curl
The American Curl breed gets its name from the unique curled shape of its ears. This striking feature is the result of a genetic mutation.
Breeders often mix American Curl cats with other breeds. Since curly ears come from a dominant gene, kittens retain this unique trait.
Mixing American Curls with other cats means there are many different eye and coat colors, including black fur and green eyes.
Domestic Shorthair
Domestic Shorthair cats, or moggies in the U.K., are cats of mixed breed or unknown origin.
These cats often have DNA from popular breeds like British or American Shorthairs, Ragdolls, Maine Coon Cats, and others.
Some of the most common coat colors include black, red, and brown. Patterned coats are also frequent. The eye color varies based on an animal’s unique ancestry and can be green.
Wrap Up
The combination of black hair and green eyes looks striking, especially in cat breeds with large eyes.
This combination of black cats with green eyes happens frequently, but you’re more likely to encounter it in Bombay cats, American Shorthairs, and Domestic Shorthairs.
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