Do white cats suffer from deafness?
Not all, but it is more common in white cats than any other colour by a long shot, particularly if the cat has blue eyes. Often, when white kittens are born, they have little black patches of fur between their ears that fades to white as they approach adulthood. Anyway, that black patch indicates a kitten that will most likely grow up into a white cat that can hear (and will most often have green or copper eyes, as they have more pigment to them than true white kittens). Cats that are born pure white are VERY often deaf, and are likely to have blue eyes into adulthood.
Some white cats are more prone to being deaf, especially if they have 2 blue eyes. Researchers found that only 17 to 22 percent of white cats with non-blue eyes are born deaf. The percentage rises to 40 percent if the cat has one blue eye, while upwards of 65 to 85 percent of all-white cats with both eyes blue are deaf. Some of these cats are deaf in only one ear. Interestingly, if a white cat with one blue eye is deaf in only one ear, that ear will invariably be on the same side of the head as the blue eye.
