Congenital sensorineural deafness in cats

Congenital sensorineural deafness occurs commonly in domestic cats with a white coat.

[2] Charles Darwin mentions this phenomenon in his book, On the Origin of Species, to explain correlated variation.

[8] Although few studies have been done to link this to genes known to be involved in human Waardenburg syndrome, a syndrome of hearing loss and depigmentation caused by a genetic disruption to neural crest cell development, such a disruption would lead to this presentation in cats as well.

[9] Waardenburg syndrome type 2A (caused by a mutation in MITF) has been found in many other small mammals including dogs, minks and mice, and they all display at least patchy white depigmentation and some degeneration of the cochlea and saccule, as in deaf white cats.

Another example is a mutation in the TYR gene causing point coloration, a form of partial albinism seen in Siamese cats and related breeds.

A completely deaf, solid white, blue-eyed cat
A deaf white cat with yellow eyes
This engraving depicts two cats on a wall with a dog barking below them. The spotted cat hisses at the dog while the deaf white cat dozes, unaware of the barking.