Today's Featured Picture is an Odd-Eyed Cat /

I wanted to remind everybody that February is National Cat Health Month: Let this post be a reminder to make that vet appointment and have your pet checked out. Since February is also Pet Dental Health Month, have the vet check out your pets teeth too.

Photo: Keith Kissel

In honor of February being Cat Health Month I wanted to do a fun "Featured Picture" of a cat. On my search for the best one, I found this photo by Keith Kissel. His odd-eyed cat picture was picked to be a featured photo for wikipedia today and I knew immediately I found the one I was going to post in honor of National Cat Health Month. It's just Beautiful! Have fun reading a few fun facts about odd-eyed cats too.

What is an Odd-eyed cat?

An odd-eyed cat is a cat with one blue eye (the "odd" eye) and one green, yellow, or brown eye. This is a feline form of complete heterochromia, a condition also present in humans and some other animals (including horses and huskies). It can occur in a cat of any fur color, provided that it possesses the white spotting gene. Animals affected by the condition can have partial heterochromia, in which only part of the iris is a different color.

Cultural reactions and folklore

     Odd-eyed cats are popular within several breeds, including Turkish Van, Turkish Angora, Sphynx, Persian, Oriental Shorthair, and Japanese Bobtail.
     In 1817, the government of Turkey, in conjunction with the Ankara Zoo, began a meticulous breeding program to preserve and protect pure white Turkish Angora cats with blue and amber eyes, a program that continues today, as they are considered a national treasure. The zoo specifically prized the odd-eyed Angoras who had one blue eye and one amber eye, as the Turkish folklore suggests that "the eyes must be as green as the lake and as blue as the sky." The mascot of the 2010 FIBA World Championship, hosted by Turkey, was an anthropomorphized odd-eyed Van Cat named, "Bascat".
Muhammad's pet Angora, Muezza, was reputed to be an odd-eyed cat.
In the Japanese Bobtail, odd-eyed cats are most frequently found in calico individuals.
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Note: Today is also...

Earliest day on which Feast of Orthodoxy can fall, while March 14 is the latest; celebrated 42 days before Easter. (Orthodoxy)

Nirvana Day (Mahayana Buddhism) Parinirvana Day, or Nirvana Day is a Mahayana Buddhist holiday celebrated in East Asia. By some it is celebrated on the 8th February, but by most on the 15th February. Buddhists celebrate the death of the Buddha because they believe that since he was Enlightened, he was free from the pain of physical existence.

Prešeren Day (Slovenia) It is marking the anniversary of the death of the Slovene national poet France Prešeren on February 8, 1849. The holiday was established to honor achievements in the Slovenian culture.