So I want a White Cat. Not for around a year or so, but I still want one. Not long haired either. Has to be short haired. Anyway, a woman I know who has one tells me that they are sometimes deaf? Among other things? I'm curious as to if anyone has any more information on this matter.

i found on google that
white haired cats are prime victims to cancer of the ear because of repeated sunburn of their sensitive ears
Many blue-eyed white cats are deaf from birth and often have poor resistance to disease, reduced fertility and impaired night vision.

I had a white cat and it was deaf + retarded with blue eyes, nahmean?

Our cat is more than 95% white and he has blue eyes, but he's not deaf. The 5% suggest a different genetic background than a typical whole-white cat.

And he has very red eyes in near dark Spooky...

That's funny because I do have a friend who, as a matter of fact, has a white short-haired cat that is deaf.

full white long haired, blue eyed cat. No deaf, no cancer, no crazy terminal cat disease.

Where is your science now?

White cats may go deaf earlier, but they keep their jobs and have a less chance of cat sickle cell anemia.

This post was edited by 313Matt on Jul 1 2011 08:32am

wow...
intense

it's all about the ears
if it's got white ears then it's most likely deaf

also,

There is a known link between white coat color, blue eyes and deafness - but since the coat and eye color can be caused by different genes it means that only some blue eyed whites are deaf. There is a gene/gene complex which causes white coat, blue eyes and deafness, but not all cats get their white coat and blue eyes from that particular gene, so not all white cats will be deaf.

I posted a picture of our cat on my profile. His ears are all white. But .. he has a few grey spots on his fur, such as above the eyes/between the ears. These grey spots were together at young age, then they moved apart in adult age. We're are guessing the few grey spots are indicative of some tabby genetic background. BTW, the weird thing about genetics is that special cases are so common. We may have one of those.

His blue eyes turn spooky under bright light or in the near dark The panel is what we actually see.