Deaf kitten symptoms. Why do they say that white cats are deaf? Congenital deafness in cats

Many cats suffer from deafness. This pathology most often affects white, blue-eyed cats. The cause of hearing loss in a cat can be infectious diseases or damage to the membrane. It is worth noting that hearing is a very important sense for an animal. It is necessary to determine the distance and direction to the noise source. Despite this, deaf cats can exist normally. However, they require significant assistance during the adaptation period.

Causes of the disease

Clinical picture of the pathology

In the case of gradual hearing loss, the clinical picture of this disease becomes mild. This is due to the compensation of this feeling at the expense of other organs. However, complete deafness leads to more noticeable symptoms:

1. The cat's lack of response to calls.
2. Fearfulness and frequent flinching of the animal.
3. Very loud meow.
4. Lack of orientation in space.
5. Head shaking.
6. Constant rubbing of ears with paws.
7. The appearance of an unpleasant odor from the cat's ears.
8. The appearance of pathological discharge from the ears.
9. Peeling skin in the ear area.

In some cases, hearing loss in animals occurs due to an infectious disease or cancer. This type of deafness is usually reversible. Treatment of the underlying disease leads to hearing restoration. If left untreated, deafness becomes permanent and irreversible.

Various malfunctions nervous system lead to irreversible hearing impairment. In this case, the pathology can be both hereditary and acquired. Acquired deafness in cats may be associated with poisoning by any medicines. It's worth noting that older cats can also become deaf. This occurs due to age-related changes in nerves or bone fusion in the inner ear.

Diagnosing hearing loss in cats

First of all, a simple examination is indicated. By using this method it is possible to identify infectious diseases, fungal infections, mites. Age-related hearing loss is an indication for the use of special tests. This is necessary to study the cat's reaction to sounds.

Treatment of the disease

If the cause of hearing loss in cats is infection or fungus, appropriate therapy will promote complete hearing restoration. Purpose antibacterial drugs, insecticides occur only after full examination. For tumor processes, chemotherapy and radiation are indicated.

In the case of age-related or hereditary deafness, restoration of hearing is not possible. The pet owner must help the cat live without hearing. Due to the slight fright of the animal due to the inability to hear the approach of people, it is planned to limit sudden movements and avoid unexpected appearance in front of the cat. Shows turning the light on and off so the cat can feel the vibration. It is also possible to teach the animal commands given by gestures and even lips. It is prohibited to let sick animals go outside. As a rule, cats suffering from deafness are not allowed to be bred.

Probably those who had white cats noticed that they had hearing problems. Why does this happen and how can you check how deaf a cat is?

Causes of deafness

Indeed, statistics show that some cats with blue eyes have poor hearing or no hearing at all because they have degeneration inner ear.

Moreover, such a pathology can be:

• one-sided;
• bilateral.

It is difficult to understand this fact: a truly deaf cat is usually blue-eyed. But cats with white fur have not only blue eyes, but also green (like most cats) and yellow (sometimes even bright orange). But there are also such handsome men who have eyes different color. And if one of them is blue, then the white cat will be deaf in the ear on the side of which this eye is located. Paradox? But it is so.

Scientists have known about this feature of albinos for a long time, starting from the 19th century. Even Charles Darwin wrote about them. Over time, more and more specialists found a direct connection between:

• coat color;
• blue eye pigment;
• lack of ability to hear.

Why are white cats deaf?

Deafness in white cats is explained by certain genetic characteristics. The white color gene, which is dominant, specifically affects the processes that occur in a small organism at the stage of embryonic development, and it also affects the development of hearing. This has been proven through numerous experiments.

If the kitten had representatives or Thais in the family, then the presence of blue eyes does not fully guarantee that the grown cat will be deaf. This is explained by the fact that the gene with this pathology was taken from Siamese cats that do not have this problem.

Kittens of many breeds are born with blue eyes, but their color later changes. Therefore, when you see a blue-eyed white kitten, do not be alarmed: it is not a fact that he will remain with that eye color and will not hear. Wait a little, let him grow up, and everything will fall into place.

People who decide to have a white kitten need to know all the nuances associated with the peculiarities of its development. Not all kittens are equally deaf. Before buying a new family member, you should find out what type of hearing he or she has already at the stage of selecting an applicant. After all, it may well be that not everyone is able to provide a normal life for a deaf child and teach him to understand a person.

Deafness in an animal occurs due to diseases (for example, otitis media or ear mite), injuries (as a result of rupture of the eardrum), abnormalities in the central nervous system and genetic disorders. Breeders need to know in advance how to tell if a cat is deaf. Congenital deafness is easier to determine than developing stage by stage.

Signs of deafness in a cat

Congenital deafness in cats is most often hereditary.

The cat's gradually developing hearing loss is compensated for by an exacerbation of her sense of smell and touch, which complicates the diagnostic process. Symptoms of complete hearing loss in an animal:

• the pet makes unnaturally loud sounds when meowing;
• does not respond to voices;
• behaves fearfully and insecurely, constantly looking around;
• May scratch ears, shake head, and show other signs of discomfort;
• peeling of the skin around the ears is observed;
• When infected, exudate is released from the ears, which has an extremely foul odor.

To test an animal’s hearing, you need to position yourself in its visibility zone and strike on any hard surface. It is necessary to alternate sounds correctly - from a dull blow to a sharp one, and from a quiet one to a loud one. A healthy pet should respond to a barely audible echo by turning its ears, and to a loud one by turning its head or torso.

In what cases can hearing be restored?

A deaf cat is usually overly fearful and often flinches for no good reason.

If hearing loss occurs as a result of severe intoxication, is of a hereditary nature, or is associated with the animal’s advanced age, it cannot be cured.

How to help an animal learn to live in silence

If you suspect deafness in a cat, it is better not to guess, but to show it to a veterinarian

For a comfortable existence, the animal must be provided with maximum safe conditions accommodation:

• isolate from the street;
• add tactile contact when you say hello, goodbye, or reward your pet;
• use a special collar with a bell so as not to lose your pet;
• To prevent the animal from being frightened, create additional vibration when it appears.

Your pet can adjust to hearing loss and learn to understand gesture commands and even read lips. To do this, the animal needs patience, attention and support from the owner.

It is generally accepted that the main system of touch and exploration of the surrounding world in cats is their vision. Of course, in many ways this opinion is quite fair, but you shouldn’t forget about the hearing of the “tailed ones”. Thus, deafness in cats does not contribute to the health and well-being of pets.

All types of deafness (regardless of their etiology) can be divided into two large groups:

• Primary (most often it is congenital). In these cases, hearing loss develops “on its own,” most often due to some genetic reasons, the animal’s initial predisposition to this pathology.

• Secondary. In practice it is most common (with the exception of some breeds suffering from the primary variety). Is a consequence of hundreds of the most various diseases, one way or another affecting the state of the animal’s hearing organs. This includes both “simple” injuries and neurological pathologies (including especially “successful” attacks of epilepsy).

Signs of cat deafness

Anyone who has had or has a cat at home knows how “sensitively” pets react to the sound of the refrigerator opening or the rustling of a bag of cat food being opened. All this immediately refutes the opinion of many owners about the inherently poor hearing in cats: yes, eyes are important for them, but nocturnal predators (which include many cats) also need hearing.

Accordingly, if it sharply worsens or is absent, symptoms will develop immediately:

• The animal immediately stops responding to various sounds. The cat will sit calmly in the next room, as if nothing unusual is happening, even though before it would have rushed headlong towards the food source.

• The pet begins to behave strangely on its own. This is due to the fact that hearing for cats is not a primary sense, but it is far from useless. The animal becomes more apathetic and tries to get out of its favorite resting places less often. Moreover, many cats are frankly afraid to go outside, even if they used to be desperate “revelers.” This is due to the fact that they cannot adequately identify sources of threats, and therefore tend to avoid excessively close contacts with the external environment.

• The cat becomes extremely shy. Any person who has had a cat at least once in his life knows how difficult it is to take a waking pet by surprise. But in cases where the pet is deaf, this is easy to do. But it’s not very safe: cats become so nervous that they can suddenly rush to the side, or even scratch the “impudent” one out of fear.

How to check for deafness?

Let us immediately emphasize that all methods suitable for use at home do not belong to the category of particularly accurate: they can only indirectly indicate deafness or its absence, and therefore final diagnosis can only be determined based on the results of a clinical examination of the animal. So how can you check if a cat is deaf or if his hearing is okay?

Here's what you can do:

• Carefully approach the cat and clap your hands sharply. But! This must be done carefully. If the pet is not deaf, there is a chance to suffer from the consequences of his “hysterical” jumping around the house.

• Since deaf pets are highly susceptible to various vibrations, you can try to attract the cat's attention by knocking on the floor. If the cat can hear, she will know perfectly well what exactly the owner is doing, which will be noticeable by the twitching of her ears. This sign is not observed in deaf pets. On the contrary, deaf and hard of hearing cats will react sharply, and sometimes even inappropriately, to floor vibrations. They don’t understand what it is and what causes it, and therefore they are very nervous.

Main causes of feline deafness

As we have already written, the reasons for the disappearance or significant weakening of hearing are very diverse, but we will describe the most important ones.

Deafness after otitis media: why is this phenomenon dangerous?

Perhaps the complete or partial disappearance of hearing after, i.e. inflammatory process in the inner ear is one of the most common phenomena in veterinary otolaryngology. This is due to the fact that not all owners understand the potential danger of this pathology.

Important! If the cavity of the inner ear develops purulent inflammation, accompanied by the release of pus, nothing good will come of it.

Pus is a powerful natural “solvent” that can damage and liquefy not only soft fabrics, but even bones. Accordingly, after prolonged otitis media, the likelihood of hearing deterioration is extremely high.

Accordingly, it is not difficult to guess about the potential danger of this phenomenon: the hearing organs are located in close proximity to the brain. In addition, there are many blood vessels there.

If otitis media is not treated at all, deafness can become the cat’s smallest problem. He may well die from brain damage, sepsis or similar causes.

Senile hearing loss in cats

With age, pets (and pet owners) do not become healthier. In particular, the blood supply to the tissues in the hearing organs deteriorates, the eardrum becomes “flabby,” and other negative changes accumulate. Senile hearing loss occurs. Alas, nothing can be done about it; old age will take its toll in any case.

Considering that cats are animals with a fairly decent lifespan (subject to normal maintenance and feeding), their hearing begins to deteriorate no earlier than ten years of age. It happens that pets who live to be 14 or more years old hear almost nothing. True, this is not their most serious problem: by this time cats often go blind.

Congenital deafness in cats, its breed variations

The most problematic may be congenital deafness. The following negative environmental factors (as well as their combination) often lead to its development:

But still, the real “leaders” in the issue of congenital hearing loss are some breeds, some of which we will talk about below.

Is it true that white cats with blue eyes are more likely to be deaf?

This statement may seem like a “horror story,” but in fact this opinion is a very real reflection of reality. Yes, white cats with blue eyes are much more likely than their “polychrome” relatives to be deaf from birth. In addition, they are more likely to become deaf in adulthood.

This is due to recessive genes, which in some animals are associated with either white color or blue iris. It is for this reason that many professional breeders prefer not to allow pets with this coloring into breeding.

Interesting! There is an official concept, “white cat deafness.” In such animals, some parts of the inner ear are either not developed at all, or they degrade when the cat is not yet three years old.

Interesting fact. In blue-eyed and white cats, it often happens that one eye has a more pronounced and rich color of the iris. So here it is. It is not known exactly why this happens, but deafness is often caused by the ear on the side of the more “colored” eye. Ear with opposite side or hears, or retains the ability to perceive at least the loudest sounds.

Angora cat and congenital deafness

In principle, we have already described the essence of the problem above. Although not every Angora cat is white (this color is not even the official breed standard), but still “deafness of white cats” is extremely common among them. True, this is in to a greater extent refers to animals with blue eyes. Angoras with yellow irises suffer from congenital hearing loss much less frequently.

Important! Deafness can be a sign of an extremely dangerous breed disease, ataxia of Angora cats. It is accompanied by very severe neurodegenerative processes, which often lead to complete or partial paralysis. So, if there is any suspicion of deafness, it is useful to show Angora cats to a veterinarian.

Scottish Fold cats and deafness

Unfortunately, Scottish Folds also often suffer from congenital hearing loss. And if in the case of Angora pets the reason lies in the underdevelopment of some parts of the inner ear, then in the case of the Scots the problem lies in anatomical defects in their development.

Small, neat, slightly “dangling” ears are considered the standard of the breed. Breeders achieved such results through many years of very painstaking selection... as a result of which the genes of numerous hereditary diseases linked with the genes of the “correct” ears.

Deafness is far from the first place among them. However, everything is not so scary. Often deafness in Scots is a consequence of accumulation large quantity sulfur and dirt. These cats are prone to “littering” the ear canals due to their specific structure, so this can often be corrected by carefully monitoring the condition of the hearing organs.

Prevention and care of the ears: how to prevent the development of deafness

High-quality ear prevention and care will help the owner preserve the pet’s hearing.

You don’t have to do anything particularly complicated for this:

Treatment of deafness in cats

Alas, full treatment is impossible in most cases. Of course, you can sew up the eardrum, you can remove excess wax and other dirt that clogs the ear canal, but nothing can be done about congenital hearing loss. The same applies to the consequences of advanced hearing diseases. Functional tissue damage in such cases is so great that there is no talk of even a partial return of hearing.

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What is deafness?

So, deafness is the inability to perceive and respond to sounds, this condition can be caused by neurological or other disorders, such as:

• Abnormalities of the pinna, ear canal, eardrum, ossicles, or middle ear. Earwax clogging the ear canal, eardrum problems and severe ear infections are all examples of diseases that lead to deafness.
• Neurological (sensorineural) deafness can be caused by abnormalities of the inner ear, auditory nerve, or problems with brain function. Hereditary deafness, use of toxic medications, or age-related problems can all cause neurological deafness.

Hearing loss in a pet can be either unilateral (affecting one ear) or bilateral (affecting both ears). Unfortunately, single-sided deafness is difficult to recognize at home. Therefore, due to expensive equipment, this procedure, as a rule, is carried out only by a veterinarian and only in veterinary clinics.

Some cat breeds suffer from hereditary deafness. This disease most often affects white, blue-eyed cats. Animals that are bred (club cats) are usually tested for hearing, but if the pet does not hear, it is removed from the breeding program and cannot take part in shows or competitions.

Symptoms

• Pet does not respond to commands
• Reacts only when you are in the cat's field of view
• Sleeps more than usual
• Wakes up only from touch
• Your pet doesn’t know which way to run when you call him.
• Shakes head or touches ears

When your cat becomes deaf and you, not knowing what to do, are looking for advice on this topic on the Internet on forums, we recommend not to self-medicate or experiment on your beloved cat. The fact is that there are many causes of hearing loss in an animal, and the consequences of your experiment may disappoint you and your family.

How to determine deafness in a pet?

This can be done as follows:

• You can observe the animal's behavioral response, such as turning its head, or reacting to a sound. If there is a suspicion of bilateral hearing loss, then the animal does not react at all to sounds from either side. Your four-legged friend may trick you by responding to vibrations rather than the sound itself.
• To determine what exactly causes deafness, it is necessary to conduct a neurological examination and medical checkup ear. Using an otoscope, the veterinarian will determine what was preventing the passage of sound: earwax, foreign bodies, infection or inflammation.

Treatment

Treatment for your pet will be prescribed based on tests, medical and neurological examination, and physical examination.

Deafness can be corrected if the cause is, for example, wax accumulation or infection. Cleaning the ear opening should be done with care to avoid damaging the eardrum. This procedure should be carried out by a veterinarian using a cotton applicator. Cleaning heavily soiled ears can be performed under general anesthesia.

If an infection is detected, antibiotics will help.

For bilateral deafness, medications, surgery, or a hearing aid may be used. But it is worth paying attention to the fact that hearing aid may bother your pet and he will try to get rid of it.

Care and maintenance

You can test your cat for deafness at home, but keep in mind that your pet may not hear, but “feel” sounds, for example, a door slamming or steps on a wooden floor.

If your pet has congenital deafness, then do not despair; it can be trained to understand sign language. To make it easy to find your fidget, you can attach a bell to his collar.

Do not leave a deaf animal unattended, especially outside the home.

The veterinarian's instructions should be strictly followed.