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Permalink Reply by Patti on January 27, 2009 at 8:51am

here's a shot of my two cardigan's with the same thing! the b/w cardi eyes glow green, while my blue's eye's glow red......

Attachments:

• DSC01694.JPG, 1.7 MB

Permalink Reply by Cheri on January 28, 2009 at 3:02pm

do you suppose it's got something to do with the albino gene? I mean isn't that what makes them a blue merle? Don't they have an albino gene and that's what makes their noses pink, their eyes blue, etc.

Permalink Reply by Maisy on January 28, 2009 at 9:10pm

This is from an article I read, but it doesn't talk about albino.

"The white or china eye as seen in Siberian Huskies also occurs in Cardigans, but is totally
unrelated to the merle gene. These blue eyes also reflect red in the dark. Brown eyes related
to that condition sometimes reflect red, sometimes green, whereas the brown eyes of blue
merles always reflect red, in my limited experience. I must emphasize that the red reflection
is a rough and ready test for blue merles, but not 100% accurate."

Permalink Reply by Patti on January 31, 2009 at 4:48pm

we've always joked that it just makes "luna" , our blue, more "looney", 'cuz she is!

Permalink Reply by Alice on January 31, 2009 at 6:35pm

Finnigan's blue eyes almost alwyas reflects red but his brown eye reflects green. I'll have to pay close attention and see if the brown one EVER reflects red.

Permalink Reply by Alice on January 31, 2009 at 6:42pm

Here's Finn's brown eye:

Here's his blue eye:

Permalink Reply by Maisy on January 31, 2009 at 10:48pm

How very interesting! I don't think it's supposed to happen that way, even the brown is supposed to shine red. I found this cool article on it. You might want to read it:
http://www.cardicommentary.de/articles%20-%20Charlie/INHERITANCE_BL...

This is a sentence from it:
There are other conditions that result in a defective tapetum and reflect red, but so far I have never
encountered a merle having green reflection.

Cool huh!

Permalink Reply by Alice on January 31, 2009 at 11:39pm

I'm not surprised that he would be outside the norm. So far, nothing with him is simple from his late start on walking to his one undescended testicle and now his eyes. :) Well, I guess that just proves that merles eyes are not red all the time. He is most definitely merle and comes from a good line so I don't know what other explanation there could be. :)

Permalink Reply by Alice on February 1, 2009 at 3:26pm

I read through the article again and at one part I think it said that an Ophthalmologist stated that the blue eye of a blue merle will always reflect red but if a brown eye is present it CAN reflect more yellow or green. It sounds like the author just hadn't encountered this personally. Maybe Finn's not so strange after all. :)

Permalink Reply by Shepdog on February 2, 2009 at 2:38pm

*laughs* And boy oh boy does that red eyeshine pose a challenge for photography. I'm really going to have to knuckle down and purchase a flash I can bounce from other angles, just for Simon.

Permalink Reply by Alice on February 3, 2009 at 12:21am

I hear you. My digital camera is just a cheapy which was fine until Finn came along. Now we are looking to upgrade just so we can get some nice pictures of him without the glowing eyes. LOL...

Permalink Reply by Liam's Mommy on February 18, 2009 at 12:56am

The red eye happens to all animals that have tapetum lucidum. Sheep, cats, dogs. It's the way that the light reflects off of this, it is how animals see better in the dark.

According to Wikipedia:

Cats and dogs with blue eyes may display both eyeshine and red-eye effect. Both species have a tapetum lucidum, so their pupils may display eyeshine. In flash color photographs, however, individuals with blue eyes may also display a distinctive red eyeshine. Individuals with heterochromia may display red eyeshine in the blue eye and "normal" yellow / green / blue / white eyeshine in the other eye. These include odd-eyed cats and bi-eyed dogs. The red-eye effect is independent of the eyeshine: in some photographs of individuals with a tapetum lucidum and heterochromia, the eyeshine is dim yet the pupil of the blue eye still appears red. This is most apparent when the individual is not looking into the camera, because the tapetum lucidum is far less extensive than the retina. Eyeglow, which is sometimes seen from cats and dogs, is a result of light bouncing of the tapetum. Animals’ eyes glow as a result. Though eyeshine might seem insalubrious to the animal's health, it is really only a result of light bouncing off the tapetum.

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