Recently, there have been kits born here in the US with bright blue and
green eyes. This is not a color due to light reflecting off the eye,
but an actual blue or green eye iris, with the black pupil visible in
the middle.

I know that ferrets with odd colored eyes have been in Europe for a
while. Cherry Ferrets used to have a number of pictures of some of
their breeder ferrets who had these odd colored eyes up on their
website. I have also been told that Soren Thingaard was also breeding
ferrets with odd eye colors.

My question is primarily for European members of the list. Since these
odd eye colors seem to have been in some European lines longer then
here in the US, has anyone seen these ferrets, and do they have any
particular health problems associated with the odd eye color?

The eye color may be purely cosmetic, and not be an indicator of a
genetic fault associated with a health problem. On the other hand,
there may be a relationship between some health concern and the odd
eye color.

When the first pandas and blazes appeared, many of them were hearing
and did not display neural crest disorder problems. But, as people
started to breed to produce these color patterns, the neural crest
disorders started to appear.

I am not asking this question to point fingers or lay blame. I am
simply trying to find out what has happened to the ferrets with odd eye
colors as they have aged, and also what has happened to any additional
generations of them that have occurred.

I do know that at least one US ferret organization has taken the stand
that the odd eye color is not standard, and is not something people
should be trying to reproduce. But, I am very interested in finding
out if it is a sign of some more serious genetic problem.

Danee DeVore
ADV - If your ferret hasn't been tested, you don't know!
For more information visit:
<http://www.ferretadv.com>

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[Posted in FML 6449]