Dogs are the most common pets that are being raised in households, and they can have varied body colors that resemble their parent’s colors.
The eyes are always white with a black pupil at birth.
As the dog is growing, the eyes start to change in color from white to brown, and this could be confused to be an eye disease by most people.
The truth is that it is not an eye disease and it will not affect the dog’s vision acuity, it is just a matter of growing, and these are development changes.
Melanin Determines the Eye Colors of Dogs
Melanin is known to be the black pigment that is contained in the body of living animals.
When it accumulates in a body part, it makes that particular part appear black in color.
In dogs, melanin does not accumulate in the eyes at birth, but instead, it accumulates after two months.
This is the time when the eyes start turning dark brown making even the dog owner to worry about the health of dog.
The vision of the dog will not be affected though; it will remain just like it used to be.
Dogs without Melanin have blue eyes and a whitish like skin.
Is Melanin Important to Your Dog?
Melanin, although it ruins the color of your dog’s eyes, is among the most helpful pigment.
First, it gives your dog the black skin that cannot be penetrated by harmful UV sun rays.
When the eyes have melanin, the dog is protected from harmful UV rays thereby making it to play in open fields where there is plenty of sunlight without it undergoing visual problems.
You should expect the brown eyes to turn into amber eyes after the dog passes its four-month age.
The liver is the one that dilutes these brown colors and make them turn into amber color.
If the brown eye color doesn’t change during time, it will stay until adult stage.
The Color Is Present in Almost All Kinds of Dogs
Most dogs have little brown color that cannot be easily noticed.
You need to look closely for you to see these brown colors.
The amber color is the most common color, and it is also known to be the predominant eye color for wolves and other animals of the same species.
Nutrition, cleanliness and other dog keeping measures will not help to prevent brown eyes because this is more of genetics.
To conclude, brown eyes are common in dogs.
The brown color is caused by melanin when it accumulates in the eyes.
The eyes turn brown when the dog is at the age of two months old because that is when most of the melanin production takes place.
There is no medication to treat the brown eyes but it disappears within the fourth month, and if it does not disappear then it is there to stay.
The liver is the one that should dilute the brown color into amber color.