White Cats Deafness Blue Eyes
In the cat world white cats with blue eyes are very special kitties.
White cats deafness blue eyes. The blue eyes in a piebald or epistatic white cat indicates a lack of tapetum. Coat color and an aspect of the cats personality or another aspect of anatomy can be linked if the gene that dictates the cats colour and a gene which affects the way the brain develops are situated close together on the same chromosome. 40 percent of white cats with one blue eye were deaf.
Some of the cats were deaf in only one ear - interestingly if a cat had a blue eye on the right side of her head. Many people wonder if deafness in cats with blue eyes or in white cats is an old wives tale or a fact. Hereditary deafness is a major concern in white cats and even more so if one or both irises are blue in color.
Cats with just one deaf ear may appear perfectly normal and their. Dominant epistatic white is a masking gene that overrides all other coat colours and is symbolised with the letters W D. Their eye color is mainly due to a cellular issue.
Deafness is associated only with the dominant white gene not the white spotting gene says feline geneticist Leslie A. The primary determining factor of congenital deafness in all-white cats seems to be their eye color with blue eyes being a sign of the condition. 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.
People ask why white cats with blue eyes are deaf. Overall statistics indicate that. As for odd-eyed white cats when a white cat has one orange or green and one blue eye the ear on the blue-eyed side is likely to be deaf whereas the one on the orange- or green-eyed side is usually fine.
However the prevalence of white cats does vary in different geographies. When the white spot gene affects both eyes the cat will have blue eyes. Deafness in blue-eyed white cats.