When I was a child, we had a white cat named Sammy. Sammy was unique because he had a blue eye and a green eye. He was also deaf. At the time we were told that all white cats are deaf, but later we learned that was an exaggeration.
White cats with blue eyes are more commonly deaf, while cats with other colored eyes tend to be able to hear. The unusual thing about Sammy was that he had both colored eyes, and he was deaf. But even with this disability, Sammy was able to do anything other cats could. He knew when we were home, and he know when we were feeding him. That’s because he used additional senses that cats are real good at. Routine, being the most common, and understanding the vibrations that he could feel when we walked into the room.
One thing that is very important if you own a cat that is deaf, never let them outside. Although they can adjust to a soundless life, they are more likely to get hurt or killed by predators, or cars. So keep your deaf kitty indoors. It’s for their own good.
My blue-eyed, white cat was not deaf and heard as well as any cat (but some vets asked me repeatedly, as though they didn’t believe me!), but you’re right, the majority of cats with this genetic coloring are. Breaking down the genetics gets complicated, but I was surprised to learn that your bi-color eyed white cat was deaf. You often see people give a sigh of relief when they see a white cat has two different colored eyes because that’s supposed to be a sort of ‘safety’ sign that the cat isn’t deaf.
It’s strange how we can take certain statistics and turn them into “fact”!
Thank you for emphasizing that people keep deaf cats indoors. I’m an advocate for keeping all cats indoors, but that’s another story.