US My babies

[Cassie]

Between me and my fiancé, we have a total of cats. Before we met, he had three. One that is his, Goldie, and two that he was taking care of for a friend til he comes home from college, Gus and Buster. And I had my two, Raccoon and Snowball. Even though we claim all five cats as ours, both of ours, I talk about my two that I had initially more often.
Raccoon and Snowball are sibling Turkish Angoras. I helped the mother give birth to them. When little Raccoon was born, he was the runt, and was having trouble getting out of the amniotic sac. So I rushed to help him, which of course meant that he got my scent before his real mother's. Later on, when I was choosing the two out of the five in the litter that I would take, I was actually going to take Snowball and another cat that looked identical to her, except one tiny dot on the head. Raccoon was having none of that, and demanded that I take him instead. He crawled up on my shoulder and buried his head in my hair and just laid there.
Now, eight years later, he is a huge (as in body size, not overweight by any means) cat that you would never except to have EVER been a runt. He has three legs from an accident he got in five years ago. He fought his hardest to make it, and is happier and healthier than ever now.
And Snowball is a solid white, longhair, blue eyed, deaf, beautiful cat. She is very sweet. When she plays, she always keeps her claws in to make sure never to accidentally scratch me, and licks instead of bites. It's funny to watch, and so sweet that she is making sure not to accidentally hurt her mama.
She likes to wander off by herself around the house, and she will "talk"to herself. Since she was born deaf and has no concept of what is thinking vs meowing out loud, we will suddenly hear a LOUD meow.
They are my world, my kids, and they light up my life.

Attached is a picture of them both. I combined this picture because I like how they are both smiling from neck scratches.

 

[Second Summer]

And Snowball is a solid white, longhair, blue eyed, deaf, beautiful cat.

That's interesting, I wonder if the combination of solid white fur and deafness is a common occurrence in cats? It's not the first time I've come across this.

 

[Cassie]

That's interesting, I wonder if the combination of solid white fur and deafness is a common occurrence in cats? It's not the first time I've come across this.

Yes it is, actually.
Many animals that are solid white typically are either deaf or blind.

 

[Mischief]




In cats, inherited congenital (present from birth) deafness is seen almost exclusively in white coated individuals. The deafness is caused by degeneration of the auditory apparatus of the inner ear and may affect one ear (unilateral) or both ears (bilateral).

Breeding studies have defined the relationship between deafness in white cats and blue eye colour. The gene responsible is an autosomal dominant gene termed W (for White). This gene appears to be pleiotropic – ie, it has more than one effect, being responsible for the white coat colour and also blue eyes and deafness. However, while the gene has complete penetrance for white coat colour (all cats that carry the gene will have a white coat), it has incomplete penetrance for blue eye colour and for deafness (but these two are strongly linked). Thus deafness is strongly linked to the white coat colour and blue eye colour, but not all white cats or white cats with blue eyes are necessarily deaf. The variable penetrance of deafness and eye colour may be caused by interplay with other genes and/or environmental factors.

https://icatcare.org/sites/default/files/kcfinder/images/images/deafness_in_white_cats.png

 

[Mischief]

With respect to dogs:

Congenital hearing loss is mostly due to genetic factors, and these are found to be associated with certain coat colors. The coat colors associated with the highest risk are:

• white
• piebald (much white with some spotting)
• roan (white or gray hairs mixed through the coat)
• merle (desaturated colors, especially where blacks become grays or blues)

The classic example of a piebald dog is the Dalmatian. In this breed 22 percent are deaf in one ear, and 8 percent are deaf in both ears, amounting to an amazing 30 percent born with some form of hearing deficit. While all Dalmatians are more or less piebald, in other breeds the white, roan or piebald genes are found in some individuals but not others. In the Bull Terrier, for example, individuals can be either white or can have prominent color patches. Among those Bull Terriers who are white, the rate of congenital deafness is 20 percent, while for those with color patches it is only around 1 percent. In English Cocker Spaniels, the parti-colored dogs often have quite a bit of white on them as opposed to the solid colored dogs which have virtually none. Again this shows up in their hearing ability with the parti-colored dogs being more than twice as likely to be congenitally deaf. The table below gives some numbers from Dr. Strain’s research.

Source: SC Psychological Enterprises Ltd


The gene that causes whiteness in a dog’s coat also tends to make it more likely that it will be blue eyed. Thus it seems sensible to expect that blue-eyed Dalmatians would be even more likely to be deaf. This prediction is true and the effect is quite dramatic. Among blue-eyed Dalmatians, 51 percent (or about one out of every two) are deaf in at least one ear. What is worse is the fact that even if the Dalmatian has brown eyes, if one of his parents had blue eyes the chance of being deaf skyrockets.

Your Dog’s Coat Color Predicts His Hearing Ability

 

[Cassie]

That's really interesting. She does have blue eyes, too. Her mother had one blue eye and one green, but was not deaf herself.