Can you hear me, Blue-Eyed White Cats?
Should we assume that all white cats are deaf? White cats with blue eyes have a lower likelihood of developing or being born with eye problems. Your acquaintances may be conflating blindness with deafness, yet both ailments are quite dissimilar.
A high incidence of congenital deafness can be found in white cats, especially those with blue eyes in both eyes.
Some are beginning to speculate that white cats with blue eyes may be born with impaired hearing.
Are they deaf or something? All those blue-eyed, snow-colored kitties can’t hear, can they?
Scientists have shown that just 17-22 percent of white cats with eyes other than blue are born deaf.
If your cat has one blue eye, that increases the risk of deafness to around 35%; if both eyes are blue, that risk rises to 65%-81%. Some of these cats are sadly monolingual deaf. The deaf ear of a white cat with a single blue eye always seems to be on the same side of the head as the eye, which is always annoying.
A human may not detect that their cat is deaf in one ear because the animal appears normal to the naked eye.
Although a deaf cat from birth may be difficult to care for, with the correct attention and love, it is possible to raise a loving pet.
Prevent children from being put in harm’s way by making them solely rely on their ears.
Don’t send the kids outside to play because they could get hurt by a stray dog or a fast car that they can’t hear.
The unfortunate truth is that inherited deafness cannot be treated.
Why Are Some White Cats with Blue Eyes Deaf?
In most people’s minds, disabled cats are those who have obvious physical problems.
It’s not hard to picture a cat that’s missing an eye, has only three legs, and maybe is even paralyzed.
Nonetheless, there may be unseen challenges a cat is facing that humans are choosing to overlook.
Deafness is one of these unseen challenges. In every other way, deaf cats are the same as hearing ones.
Therefore, it is important to sort through the myths and learn the truths about deaf cats when we discover one is in our lives or are thinking about adopting one.
Like many elderly people, cats can experience hearing loss. Given the typical duration of this procedure, it may be difficult to detect. The eardrums become less elastic and less efficient at transmitting sound as a result.
It is common for these cats to display subtle alterations in behavior, such as ignoring our calls or refusing to come inside when we return home.
Congenital deafness is a hereditary defect that causes some cats to be born unable to hear.
Most cases of congenital deafness are linked to a lack of melanin in the developing embryo, which is why affected cats tend to be all-white or have predominately white fur.
It’s important to note that these cats have colored irises and possibly other pigmentation in their skin or fur.
This means that individuals have albinism, a condition characterized by a total lack of skin colour.
That all white cats are deaf is a myth, as is the idea that white cats with blue eyes, green eyes, or both are always deaf.
How Can You Tell If a White Cat Is Deaf?
Determining whether or not a cat is deaf might be trickier than with a dog, especially if there is also a hearing cat in the household.
A deaf cat may watch a hearing cat to get visual cues about what’s going on around them.
Even though the deaf cat can’t hear, it would still play with its hearing friend by chasing it around the house.
With only one cat in the home, it may be easier to notice if there is a problem with its hearing.
The cat might be fast asleep, for instance. It’s possible you’ll also notice that she’s more easily shocked.
It’s also possible that you’ll enter the room and go unnoticed by her.
Find out if your cat is deaf by trying to get her attention while making loud noises like shaking keys or clapping your hands.
Your cat may be deaf if there is no reaction. Deafness in cats does not usually indicate any underlying health problems.
How Rare Is a White Cat with Blue Eyes?
The vast majority of cats are not white, and non-white cats almost never have congenital deafness.
White cats make up only 5% of the cat population (i.e., pure white).
Fifteen to fortieth percent of white cats have either one or two blue eyes.
Twenty to forty percent of white cats with one or two blue eyes have typical hearing, while sixty to seventy percent of white cats with one blue eye have normal hearing. Thirty to forty percent of white cats with one blue eye are deaf.
Sixty-eighty percent of the white cats, who make up only five percent of the total population, have eyes of a different color (e.g., orange, green). Roughly 10% were completely deaf, whereas 90% had normal hearing. Between 0.25 and 1.5% of the cat population are white cats with one or two blue eyes and hearing loss. Between 0.75 to 2.0% of the global cat population are all-white cats with blue eyes.
Are White Cats with Blue Eyes Blind?
There may be a gene for this feature in cats that makes white-furred cats with blue eyes more likely to develop deafness.
An all white cat with such icy blue eyes is a rare sight. To your surprise, nevertheless, the vast majority of these felines are also deaf.
Why then have cases of deafness in white-coated cats increased so dramatically?
It was shown that the likelihood of a kitten being born deaf was strongly influenced by its parents’ genetic makeup.
Learn more about these stunning felines to realize why white cats with blue eyes are at a higher risk of being born deaf.
Deafness is more common in white-haired, blue-eyed cats, and this has caught the attention of geneticists and cat breeders.
It has been discovered that a dominant gene called W is responsible for the albino hair (for White). Researchers have found a correlation between this gene and both blue eye color and hearing loss.
Carriers of the W gene in cats have white fur. However, a cat that carries the W gene has an increased risk of developing both deafness and blue eyes. Hearing loss and eye color are thought to be controlled by the same gene.
Though not always the case, white-haired cats with blue eyes are more likely to be deaf than other types of cats.
Some experts think environmental factors and other recessive genes in the cat’s genome may influence the W gene, which is responsible for feline deafness.