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Published on: February 21, 2016
Unilateral and bilateral congenital sensorineural deafness in client-owned pure-breed white cats
D Cvejic1, T A Steinberg, M S Kent
1Section of Neurology, Clinic of Small Animal Medicine, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
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.
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