hi there ive just got my second cat, she is a pure white kitten with blue eyes,
i bought her from a friend of a friend so dont really know if she is a breed but i very much doubt she is,
can someone just put me straight on a few queries i have
someone told me that pure white cats are deaf, is this true?
then someone has told me today that pure white cats are blind
are any of the above supposed to be true,
im not worried about her just would like to know.

cheers

*some* pure white cats can be deaf, same as pure white dogs. As for blindness, all her eye would be blue I think, not just the iris

My pure white dogs are certainly without hearing and sight problems :)

How blue are the cats eyes, out of interest?

im sure shes not deaf or blind i just wondered whether what people say is true
it wouldnt make a difference anyway if she was, well not to me anyway, maybe if she was blind it would be a proble for her.

As far as I've always been aware, it's generally only white cats with blue eyes who tend to be deaf, rather than white ones with green eyes or any other colour. Not heard about anything to do with blindness though, just deafness. I don't think EVERY white cat with blue eyes is deaf but my sister had such a cat from the cat shelter and was told it's quite common.

its just her eyes that are blue her pupils are black
the blue is like a light blue

I thought it was just a certain breed of cat, that also has blue eyes, that can be deaf. White cats with yellow, anber or green etesaren't usualy genetically deaf afaik. Never heard of cats being genetically blind either.

I'm sure she'll be just fine. :)


oops I typed too slooowwww! ;)

how do i tell if she is deaf (daft question i know) with her only been little she doesnt respond to her name yet but she seems to hear the hoover and my little boy coming down the stairs

I think it's albino cats that are prone to it rather than just white cats. It's hard to tell if the cats just white or not but then again, I don't know too uch about it.

not like it matters she will still be loved ..

how do i tell if she is deaf (daft question i know) with her only been little she doesnt respond to her name yet but she seems to hear the hoover and my little boy coming down the stairs

wait till she is sleeping or relaxed and make a loud noise, try not to hit anything thats on the floor as the vibrations could alert her. if she responds then she should be ok :P one thing you need to be aware of is if your going to be letting her out you need to protect her from the sun, a high factor sunscreen on her ears should be ok, there have been a lot of white cats loose thier ears due to sunburn/cancer.

How old is the kitten? young kittens do have blue eyes maybe they will turn green later.
My white cat Oliver is not deaf, he had blue eyes when I got him but they are now green :)

How old is she? If she's under 10 weeks then the blue may not be her adult eye colour and then the risk of her being deaf is insignificantly low.

Not all blue eyed white cats are deaf, but a significant proportion have some hearing deficit in one or both ears- and that can affect things like whether they can go outside as well as the basic things such as getting trodden on because they don't get out of your way.

As Savbaby says, get yourself some Petscreen fir her ears and nose if she's going to go outside- it's really important to prevent the damage.

Thankyou all for the advice, she is coming up to 8 weeks old so still only a baby, i will get some sunscreen for her ears, she wont be going out just yet anyway, im going to wait until i have had her done first, dont want any unwanted kittens.
Thankyou all again will try the advice given, im quite sure shes not deaf just a litle hard to tell at the minute, i do know she is a naughty little one my other cat who is only 7 months were never like she is lol

We got a white kitten last year and only after discovered about the high possibility of deafness and yes our little kittie is completely deaf but adorable!!

He had blue eyes when little that went green later.

I did the drop a cd on the floor right beside him (when he was on my knee so couldn't feel the vibration) and he didn't budge - asked the vet about doing a test and she said she would pretty much do the same thing !!!

He does go out because we live on a very quiet street and if I want him to come back in, I flash the living room light on and off and he sees it and comes to the window - very clever!!

I had a white cat who was deaf, he was called gabriel because he should have been an angel, not only looked like one but he came out of a coking plant during the steel strikes, because he was deaf he could not hear the food turning up so nearly starved.

He was semi long coated, he actually looked like a Turkish van cat, he had a big ruff around his neck and a flumed tail, stunning. He had one china blue eye and one ice green eye. He could sense vibrations like the vacuum or people footsteps but was as deaf as a post. Obviously had to take care because he could not hear traffic etc and I could not call him in. But amazingly we could call him in mentally !! I just used to think him in and he would turn up. Some people thought he should never be let out but he loved the outdoors and it seemed more cruel to keep him in. However must be honest I whittled when he was out and only allowed him out for about half an hour at a time befoe thinking him in...
Enjoy your beautiful white kitten, a real soft spot for me.