Saydrin44 Posted June 5, 2019 Report Share Posted June 5, 2019 I have a 3 month old BC puppy. She has blue eyes but her left eye is starting to turn to a light amber. It's not the whole eye, just the top half. It's light it's hard to tell unless you are very close. She is a Merle and I've read that it's common for Merle's to have marbled eyes or two different colored eyes. She is almost 16 weeks so I thought her eyes would be permanent by now. Will her eye completely change or will it stay half blue/ half Amber? At what age will puppies develop their permanent eye color? Could this be a sign of a health issue? I talked to my vet a few weeks ago because her left eye was kind of "lazy" but they didn't seem to think it was something to worry about. Her eye looks straighter now but is changing color. I'm just wondering if it's changing because of her Merle gene, if there is a health issue, or if there could be another concern. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance! I attached a picture of her from a distance to show how light the amber is and a close up of her left eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraV Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 When their eyes are that bright blue, they won't change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 Both complete and partial heterochromia are very common in merles. Nothing to be concerned about. I have a lurcher who's not a merle who has partial heterochromia in both eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawgirl Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 I am afraid I do not have answers for your questions about when her eyes will finish changing colour. Once the colour change happens, it will almost certainly stay that way. It is a subtle but distinguishable change in your puppy's eye, and she is very cute! But heterochromia to the best of my knowledge does not indicate a health problem. Heterochromia is a genetic trait, and it is common in merles, but not genetically linked only to merles. I have two dogs with heterochromia, but neither are merles. My merle has normal colour eyes. This response is really an excuse to post pictures. My boy Oscar, complete heterochromia My boy Shadow, complete AND partial heterochromia These two boys are related (uncle and nephew, in human terms) so heterochromia is obviously in that bloodline, but merle is not as far as I know. Hope this helps you. Best of luck with your gorgeous puppy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted June 25, 2019 Report Share Posted June 25, 2019 4 hours ago, Lawgirl said: These two boys are related (uncle and nephew, in human terms) so heterochromia is obviously in that bloodline, but merle is not as far as I know. Even if merle were somewhere in the bloodline, your dogs are not affected by it. Merle is a simple dominant. The dog either is or isn't. It's not lurking somewhere in his DNA where it could pop up unexpectedly in his progeny. The only fuzzy area in this would be the odd cryptic merle, i.e. a dog who has the merle allele but has such a tiny affected area on the coat that it isn't readily apparent. That merle would still have had one merle parent and would test positive for the merle allele. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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