title: Unilateral and bilateral congenital sensorineural deafness in client-owned pure-breed white cats.
abstract: 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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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
  Congenital sensorineural deafness frequently occurs in pure-breed cats with white coat color. Unilateral sensorineural deafness was as common as bilateral deafness.
authors.affiliation: Section of Neurology, Clinic of Small Animal Medicine, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cvejic
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kent
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fischer
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000662:veterinary; D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000151:congenital / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002415:Cats; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000151:congenital / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence