All about my new cat
Our new cat* Rykodisc** is white with one blue and one gold eye. This is because he’s an odd-eyed cat***, which happens when a cat has a dominant white masking gene that ‘prevents melanin granules from reaching one eye during development.’
The white masking gene is super-powerful: apparently any cat that has it will ‘appear white, no matter what other color genes it may carry.’
Ryko looks pretty much like a bunny, from behind, and is almost as soft as a bunny, too. He also looks pretty much exactly like this picture of a ‘typical odd-eyed cat’. Fortunately, Ryko came with a microchip, which means we’re not only In the Future but also able to tell him apart from all the other odd-eyed cats.I’ll probably post some beauty shots once he decides he wants to come out from underneath our covers.
*He’s a mutt we found at SF/SPCA. Although I’m not up-in-arms about adopting only at-risk cats (I’d previously considered getting a Scottish Fold or sphynx), I highly recommend SF/SCPA. The process was quick and painless, the prices are reasonable ($80 for a full-grown cat) and everybody was extremely nice.
**Named after the record label, which carried some of David Bowie’s catalogue.
***The technical term is heterochromia. Bowie’s probably the most famous heterochromatic, having one permanently dilated brownish iris after taking a punch to the eye in the early sixties.
—Timoni
