Are there albino cats?

Factual Questions
1

More specifically, is albanism isolated to only a few species?

In this thread:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=46096

I asked,

popokis5 answered:

So what’s the dope?

2

Albinism occurs in many species, including humans. I have seen an albino cat, many albino rabbits, an albino Red-tailed Hawk (as well as a leucistic [sub]I hope that’s the right adjective[/sub] one, and taught two girls (caucasians) in my music classes, both true albinos.

{These girls were in two two different districts in diferent parts of the state. Both were in special education classes because their eyesight was so poor (20/800 without, 20/200 with corrective lenses). Both had completely white hair and VERY pink eyes, had to wear prescriptive sunglasses indoors because of the fluorescent light, and could not go outside to play in the sun for more than 15 minutes. One had to wear a hat and long sleeves indoors, again because of the lighting - she would end up with a ‘sunburn’ within a hour (both girls had chalk-white skin). One also had very bad asthma, but her sisters also had asthma, so that may or may not have been a factor.

A couple of quick definitions:

Albinism - Absence (locally or overall) of melanins or other pigments in normally highly pimented individuals. True albinos do have red eyes, because of the absence of pigmentation in the eyes.

Leucism - A paler than normal (‘diluted’) variation, resulting from reduced melanin deposition. These individuals can have normal or lighter colored eyes, as the pigmentation is still present. The rest of the body (feathers, hair, skin) looks washed out.
Some conjectures (most of my books are at work and I’m on vacation):

Albinos in the wild likely have a shorter lifespan:

  1. lack of camoflage in hunting for prey or hiding from predators;
  2. less protection from sun and weather (both for body and eyes - eyesight tends to be weaker in albinos);
  3. lack of compensitory care from parents [speaking from experience with birds, bird parents with often ignore or throw ‘imperfect’ babies from the nest (the rehab area has dozens of abandoned birds born with eye problems, misshapen beaks, lung problems) and parents are not going to waste their time and energy rearing an offspring that has a much diminished chance of survival - albinos tend to have more medical problems than just diminished eyesight];
  4. Difficulty in finding a mate to breed offspring -

Albinos in captivity survive longer:

  1. protective care - no predators to hide from and food is provided;
  2. protection from sun and weather;
  3. compensitory medical care available when needed;
  4. in animals, breeding to produce more albinistic and leucistic young is encouraged and arranged (best examples off the top of my head are the white Bengal tigers (light-morphs but not true albinos, though true albinos will still likely have other medical problems).
    Aw heck, since I found these, might as well let you have some extra vocabulary words:

Cinnamomeous - cinnamon-colored

Erythrism - having high levels of rufous (phaeomelanin) present, somethimes virtually replacing the darker eumelanins - ‘reddish-morph’

Eumelanins - blackish-brown pigments found in the skin, hair or plumage of an individual.

Ferruginous - Rusty brown

Fuscous - Brownish-black

Isabelline - Brown, tinged with reddish-yellow

Melanism - Unusually high levels of blackish-brown pigments
‘dark-morph’

Ochraceous - Ochre-colored, or yellowish-brown

Plumbeous - Lead-colored or greyish-blue

Rufescent - tinged with rufous-brown

Sepia - Dark reddish-brown, like the color of inck from Sepia cuttlefish

3

Wow.

Thanks.