White Cats And Deafness
My cat had a litter of kittens, one of whom is solid white with only pale orange stripes on the tip of his tail. After having read numerous articles on the internet, I have determined he is albino rather than white spotted. His hearing is fine. His eyes are very pale blue, almost white, and even look pink at some angles in some light. His eyesight seems to be fine, but he squints in sunlight. Someone told me he will go blind eventually as albinos typically do. I understand that albinos do have more genetic problems due to recessive traits, but is the blindness issue an old wives tale?
There is an established link between the white coat color, blue eyes and deafness, rather than blindness. The deafness is linked to the gene for blue-eye(s) and not to odd-eyed cats. Not all blue-eyed whites will be deaf since there are several different genes causing the same physical attributes (whiteness, blue-eyedness) so it all depends on the cat’s genotype (its genetic make-up) not its phenotype (its physical appearance).
