Can you specifically breed to get the different eye colors of white cats?
 

The eye color in white cats igenerally not something you can specifically breed for, EXCEPT for blue eyes. It is connected to the white gene, which is what is called a “dominant gene.” Meaning it can not be “carried.” One of the parents must actually BE white to produce white kittens.. If the white parents are one white and one is pointed (like Siamese) then likely the white kittens will be also pointed underneath their white coats - and will also  have blue eyes. This is because white acts differently from other colors. The white color is like a paint of white on top of a cat of any other color.

 

You can also get blue eyes for a kitten that underneath is NOT pointed. But it is more unusual, although not impossible (I have had quite a few of them) to get white cats with blue eyes - when I knew that the underlying color could NOT be pointed (Siamese color), because of the genetics according to the pedigree of the cat. You also can not or should not breed white cat to white cat as that intensifies the risk of getting deaf kittens.. 

 

For the odd-eyed (OEW) and green-eyed (GEW) kittens, their white is also like a coat of white on a cat of any color (solid color or tabby or tortie, if one of the parents is also red/cream or tortie). But not generally pointed (Siamese) pattern . Often the kitten will have what we call a “kitten cap” on its head. This is a patch or even a few hairs of the underlying color of the kitten (black, brown, red, etc.) that you can see when the kitten is young but that disappears as the kitten grows toward adulthood. This is not ALWAYS there in the young babies, but often is. 

 

Seeing odd-eyes or green eyes in these white kittens (eye color takes about two months to show up - before that, they have “kitten blue-grey” colored eyes. Which again,  generally indicates that underneath their white coats, the kittens are not pointed - although there are exceptions to this rule too. Sometimes BEW kittens can be something other than pointed/Siamese).

 

There is no way to specifically breed for a certain eye color in white cats - UNLESS they are bred only to pointed (underlying),. If they are pointed/whites, then the eyes will always be BEW, the blue-eyed whites.

Marva Marrow 
7th Heaven Orientals