_Are White Cats deaf?_ (Vol. vii., p. 331.).--In looking up your Numbers
for April, I observe a Minor Query signed SHIRLEY HIBBERD, in which your
querist states that in all white cats stupidity seemed to accompany the
deafness, and inquires whether any instance can be given of a white cat
possessing the function of hearing in anything like perfection.
I am myself possessed of a white cat which, at the advanced age of upwards
of seventeen years, still retains its hearing to great perfection, and is
remarkably intelligent and devoted, more so than cats are usually given
credit for. Its affection for persons is, indeed, more like that of a dog
than of a cat. It is a half-bred Persian cat, and its eyes are perfectly
blue, with round pupils, not elongated as those of cats usually are. It
occasionally suffers from irritation in the ears, but this has not at all
resulted in deafness.