Unilateral and Bilateral Congenital Sensorineural Deafness in Client-Owned Pure-Breed White Cats

摘要

Congenital sensorineural deafness has been reported frequently in experimental mixed-breed white cats but there is a paucity of data on occurrence of deafness in client-owned pure-breed white cats.To describe hearing status in client-owned pure-breed white cats.Eighty-four pure-breed client-owned cats with white coat color of 10 registered breeds presented for routine hearing evaluation before breeding (1995-2008).Hearing was assessed by click-evoked brainstem auditory evoked response.Overall deafness prevalence was 20.2%; 9 cats (10.7%) were bilaterally deaf and 8 cats (9.5%) were unilaterally deaf. There was no association between sex and deafness status (P = .85). Deafness status was associated with iris color (P = .04).Congenital sensorineural deafness frequently occurs in pure-breed cats with white coat color. Unilateral sensorineural deafness was as common as bilateral deafness.