Breed of the Month: Ojos Azules

This rare breed has only been around since 1984 and stems from an accidental discovery…

‘Ojos azules’ means ‘blue eyes’ in Spanish, and it is the deep-blue eyes unique to the breed that is both its identifying trait and the reason for its existence. However, the Ojos Azules has a breeding history tinged with sadness that, although now addressed, means this is one of the rarest of all cat breeds.

History

The foundation cat for this breed came from humble beginnings, spotted in a pack of feral cats in Mexico in 1984. So far, so unremarkable… except that this female was a tortoiseshell with deep-blue eyes. This was unheard of, since that sort of eye colour had previously only been found in white and colourpoint cats like the Siamese (and has been linked to deafness).

Enchanted by the deep-blue eyes, her discoverers decided to breed the cat, named Cornflower, with male cats without blue eyes – and discovered that the trait was dominant, as all Cornflower’s kittens had those same dark-blue eyes.

Appearance
A medium-sized cat, the Ojos Azules can come in any coat colour, the one proviso being the distinctive eyes. Apart from their pigmentation, those eyes are large and round, which give the cat a permanently inquisitive and kitten-like look. However, white-coloured specimens of the breed are difficult to distinguish these from regular white, blue-eyed cats, many of whom have a tendency towards deafness. A flattened tail tip is another distinguishing characteristic.

Breeding difficulties
The breed was accepted for registration by the International Cat Association (TICA) in 1991. However, it was later discovered that although the eye colour was not linked to deafness, it was linked to cranial defects. This led to a temporary suspension of the breeding program when it became apparent that certain combinations of the blue-eyed gene (particularly when two blue-eyed cats were bred together) could prove fatal.

The solution was to ensure blue-eyed cats were only bred with non-blue-eyes, resulting in a litter of 50% blue-eyes and 50% non-blue-eyes. Although this means only the blue-eyed kittens can be considered Ojos Azules, it ensured the breeding program was able to resume. However, the Ojos Azules remains one of the rarest of all cat breeds.

Images sourced from : Fimho