IMPORTANT - poll for ALL members

[Marimat]

This is a poll to see how many Boxerworld members have been in contact with Deaf Boxers

 

[Krikkit]

In the past four years we have had five white Boxers through rescue here. Two were deaf (and both have nice familes to live with and love now ). Both came to us through the local pound after being dropped off by the owners and both were around 18 or so months of age. This is not really surprising as most owner - surrenders we have had here have been between 1 - 2 years of age. Both of them were white with just some 'spots' of pigmentation on the skin, not checked.

Sharon

 

[Claudia807]

We see quite a few deaf whites in our rescue (and we are not a huge organization or anything like that). I have not yet met any deafies who were not also white. We have two deaf whites in our rescue currently, although one has an adoption pending. Yay! I enjoy working with deaf dogs and I firmly believe they have an excellent quality of life. However, I will admit that not everyone has the patience for a deaf dog. If someone will surrender a dog to us for stealing cookies off the counter (this really happened), certainly that type of person would not fare well with a deafie.

 

[Marimat]

Badass and all

The question has been posed as to why I started this poll.

The long answer is here

http://boxerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=5920&perpage=12&pagenumber=2

The short answer is I am sick and tired of people being either in denial about the existence and known hereditary basis for deafness in white boxers and I am sick of of the misinformation that is put forward here when so many people coming here want to know if it is true that white boxers are more prone to deafness.

Everyone says it has never been studied, so as a matter of interest and a means of proof that deaf white boxers exist I decided to start the poll and let the board members tell all and sundry of DWB they have known or owned.

It is of course a small sampling but already a pattern in the incidence of DWB has emerged

Matthew

 

[Claudia807]

Originally posted by Bocsirs
Badass and all

The short answer is I am sick and tired of people being either in denial about the existence and known hereditary basis for deafness in white boxers and I am sick of of the misinformation that is put forward here when so many people coming here want to know if it is true that white boxers are more prone to deafness.

I had no idea that people were denying that the white gene and the deafness gene hang out together. Many breeds (where the recessive white gene is present) have a propensity for deafness - including Boxers, Dalmations, Bull Terriers, etc.

By the way, I wrote an article on deaf whites in rescue. It originally appeared on Themestream (before the site's demise) and currently appears on my own rescue site as well as Boxer Rescue LA's site. Here is a link if you're interested: A Boxer is a Boxer is a Boxer

 

[Linda]

Good poll Matt

I met a white boxer once who had a deaf owner. Does that count?

It would be interesting if someone did a more comprehensive study to find out more precisely what percentage of white boxers are deaf.

I don't deny that white boxers are prone to deafness. I agree that people should consider this when getting a white boxer, but it should not be the only deciding factor, as a good many white boxers are not deaf.


I met a vet tech once when I was walking Remy. She said they referred to white boxers a their "guinea pigs" because they had so many health problems. :(

 

[pammyjean]

Selective deafness!!!!!!

Ginty suffers from deafness, when she sees a cat , she hears and sees nothing except the darn cat!!!!!!

 

[beandawgs]

Originally posted by Claudia807


I had no idea that people were denying that the white gene and the deafness gene hang out together. Many breeds (where the recessive white gene is present) have a propensity for deafness - including Boxers, Dalmations, Bull Terriers, etc.

Claudia...I've seen a few people deny that deafness runs in white boxers. All I can say is that I have never met a deaf colored boxer yet known at least 4 deaf whites in rescue, personally. I've also looked through other rescue sites and never seen one colored deaf boxer, yet many deaf whites. I found a good article on deafness in whites at http://www.boxers.freeserve.co.uk/white.htm.

I know many people love white boxers but I think its fairly standard knowledge that deafness does run in white boxers - luckily most aren't deaf.

 

[beandawgs]

Re: Deafness in White :

Originally posted by Badassboxer
I always thought that any animal that was white (not albino, but white) was prone to deafness period. Just like Boxers are prone to cardiomyapathy (sp?). I know of Siamese cats that were all white that were deaf (two to be exact). I may be wrong, but it doesn't hurt to take that into consideration when meeting a white animal before you assume that they aren't.

Not all white animals are prone to deafness......an example is the westhighland white terrier....in that breed white is not a recessive gene and they are not prone to deafness...I think Samoyeds are another example of dominant white genes.

 

[Kaz]

Europe

When travelling through Europe in March we seemed to see boxers everywhere! (Or maybe just dogs in general and we 'noticed' the boxers)

The strange thing was they were all either all white, or mostly white, especially in Spain. We saw none which were totally brindle/red.

I don't know if they were deaf or not, but one or two were very friendly!