Ojos Azules - a New Cat Breed

What is an Ojos Azules cat? This new breed of cat became known in the year 1984, in New Mexico, when it descended from Cornflower, a tortie female, and was found among feral cat populations. This cat had extremely dark-blue eyes that are usually found only in white or colorpoint cats. Ojos Azules cats have dark-blue eyes no matter what their coat color. In 1991, T.I.C.A. published a standard for the breed. The breed is quite rare.
The name of this cat, Ojos Azules is taken from the Mexican words for "blue eyes."

The Ojos Azules cat is of medium build, with a triangular-shaped head, big round blue eyes and a rather long shaped muzzle. The coat can be in a wide variety of patterns and colors. Before the appearance of the Ojos Azules cat, blue eyes were only seen in totally white cats and Siamese. These cats appear in a variety of coat colors, and they all have blue eyes. Also, their coats are soft and silky. The depth of color in the eyes is greater even than that found in Siamese cats, and it does not cause squinting, deafness or cross-eyes.

It is interesting to note that these rare and newly-found cat breeds are generally found in the wild. Of course, it is usually some time before they are recognized as a breed. It was found that the blue-eyed cats should be bred with a cat with different-colored eyes. The mutating gene was found in the blue-eyed cats, so when two blue-eyed cats were bred, there were some deformities such as a flat end of the tail.

In 1992, only ten of the Ojos Azules cats were known. To this point, no true standard was made, and no cat registration recognized them. So far, only cats expressing the deep-blue-eye gene have been called Ojos Azules. After the genetic investigation by Solveig Pflueger, breeding resumed in a small way as attempts to breed Ojos Azules without the deadly genetic defects. The result of these investigations is that breeders must cross the blue-eyed cats with non-blue-eyed cats, producing a litter of about 50/50 blue/non-blue-eyed kittens. In doing this, only half of the kittens are then actually of the Ojos Azules breed. This avoids having at least half of the litter being deformed and/or dead kittens.

One such cat that I remember is the Scottish Fold. When I saw a photo of this cat, I had to have one, and I did find one. He was found in Scotland, and had folded ears. However, it was discovered that breeding two cats with folded ears brought about kittens with skeletal problems, much as with the blue-eyed Ojos Azules and their blue eyes. I would love to have an Ojos Azules cat, but I have two wonderful cats - I call American Shorthairs - and two is enough for now.

I am definitely interested in knowing what happens with the Ojos Azules cat breed, and if they are more plentiful now, or if there is hope for more of them in the future.

Sources:

http://www.squidoo.com/ILoveOjosAzulesCats?utm_campaign-lensmaster-discovery&utm
http://lifestyle.ezineseeker.com/the-ojos-azules-cat-13d76ed3c7.html
http://www.furrycritter.com/resources/cats/Ojos_Azules.htm
http://www.scattycats.com/Ojos_Azules.html
http://www.youpet.com/ojos-azules/