Most of us who have been fascinated by cats for any length of time have heard that a white cat with blue eyes is prone to congenital deafness. And this carries true into many breeds of cat, not just a random white cat. The possibility of pigment-associated deafness is present in the Ragdoll, Manx, British shorthair, Persian, Cornish Rex and others.
However, there are other causes for deafness in cats and they include trauma, toxins, and a
serious untreated infection, for example.
Deafness doesn’t have to be a death sentence for a cat, but it does take a special person to learn to live with a deaf cat. This cat is often non-responsive to your voice, doesn’t react to loud noises, and might tend to meow very loudly—probably so she can hear herself. She doesn’t know any better.
Did you know that you can teach yourself and the cat to communicate through hand signals? Most likely you already use gestures with your hearing cats, so this isn’t a totally unique method of communicating with your fur-kids.
Without realizing it is deaf pet awareness week, I have included a deaf cat in my latest Klepto Cat Mystery. I’m eager to see how she fits in with the Ivey family and Rags. I think we’re all going to learn a few things from this sweet calico beauty.
Here’s a site where you can get more information about deafness in cats.
https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/ears/c_ct_deafness
