Blue eyes and deafness

[shekaberry]

I was talking to a gal that has a blue eyed filly and she mentioned that horses with blue eyes often have difficulty hearing or are deaf all together. I know there was a time when we questioned Sinatra's hearing, has anyone else heard of this?

[rabbithounds]

It can happen in dogs as I have one. ;D The"lethal' white when you breed for color (two Aussie merles together). However, you don't need blue eyes since it can happen to boxers, dalmations and pits. (these dogs will have a white coat) It happens in cats as well, and I think it may be breed related such as Siamese (again not good breeding practices).

For those who are curious, yes, you can teach your dog sign language.

[gupgup]

Jun 29, 2008 22:15:35 GMT -5 shekaberry said:

I was talking to a gal that has a blue eyed filly and she mentioned that horses with blue eyes often have difficulty hearing or are deaf all together. I know there was a time when we questioned Sinatra's hearing, has anyone else heard of this?

Okay, I'm not particularly familiar with this but it is not necessarily related to having blue eyes in particular from what I've read. It is debated - but believed to be in frame overo/splashed white horses. Sheesh, I read up on it a few months ago and my memory is failing me but the horse in the guns and roses blog: gunsandwhiteroses.blogspot.com/, is deaf and she has covered the topic a few times in her blog and discussed what people feel leads to equine deafness (which happens a lot in that filly's sire's line).

It involves the white being on the face (which if the gene is active in that area, I *think* it also dilutes the eye color), and then actually having white hairs - or rather, lack of pigment - in the ear that hinder hearing. It is not like the merle gene - which when homozygous tends to lead to deafness and blindness (at best - pups often die at/before birth and can have numerous other physical defects in relation to the double merle status). The lethal white gene is about as close as you can relate to the merle gene (merle is an incomplete dominant, the lethal white is autosomal dominant).


In short, Sinatra, being a cremello, is not likely to be deaf because of his blue eyes. It is highly debated what exactly causes this but it's predominantly (at the moment) looked at in the above mentioned horses.

If anyone has access this is the article I read, which is no longer available without a subscription: quarterhorsenews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=105&Itemid=1 it is the one that detailed the current thoughts of Gunner's get and equine deafness.

Anywho, correct me if I'm wrong that is what I've learned since becoming interested in the genetics behind the creme gene, as well as reading the gawr blog.