However, other cats have an extra gene that blocks the fur’s color, so they have white coats and blue eyes. Of white cats with one blue eye, about 40 percent are deaf in at least one ear. White cats with no blue eyes have about a 19% chance of being deaf in both.
White Cats With One Blue Eye (The Other Is Usually Yellow Or Gold) Have About A 40% Chance Of Being Deaf In Both Or One Ear.
It seems the combination of a white coat and dazzling blue eyes occurs due to a genetic abnormality in the embryonic stem cells that develop into the cat’s central nervous system (cns). Statistically, white cats with blue eyes with congenital deafness make up around 1 to 1.5% of the total cat population. Deafness is caused by an absence of a cell layer in the inner ear that originates from the same stem cells as well.
Do White Cats Suffer From Hearing Loss?
However, not all white cats with blue eyes are deaf. The reason, as you may have guessed, is heredity: And 65 to 85 percent of white cats with two blue eyes were deaf.
In A Feral Situation Deaf White Cats Experience Strong Negative Natural Selection Pressure As:
However, the color of a white cat’s eyes is a greater indicator of deafness than their fur color. Two blue eyes, completely deaf. White color of the coat occurs in cats in the following three ways:
The Blue Eyes In A Piebald Or Epistatic White Cat Indicates A Lack Of Tapetum.
Adopting a white cat with blue eyes? In cats, congenital deafness is seen almost exclusively in white coated individuals. No, not all pure white cats with blue eyes are deaf, however:
