Unilateral and bilateral congenital sensorineural deafness in client-owned pure-breed white cats

Background: 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. Objective: To describe hearing status in client‐owned pure‐breed white cats. Animals: Eighty‐four pure‐breed client‐owned cats with white coat color of 10 registered breeds presented for routine hearing evaluation before breeding (1995–2008). Methods: Hearing was assessed by click‐evoked brainstem auditory evoked response. Results: 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). Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Congenital sensorineural deafness frequently occurs in pure‐breed cats with white coat color. Unilateral sensorineural deafness was as common as bilateral deafness.