Quote:
Originally Posted by momentofmadness
Back to what you are saying.. Am I right, originally staffs do they have dalmation in them...
Also re the deafness I was lead to believe they were to be all white.. but our staffie had spots like a dally in his skin but not through to the hair..
I also have a white cat.. She has had several litters.. the blighter kept getting out.. Nearly all her kits were white but had a grey splodge on each head.. I was under the impression this meant they shouldn't be deaf.. (not one was anyway)
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I have absolutely no idea about staff having dal in them, although we call my sisters staffy a surregate dal because she has spotty skin
The most common cause of congenital deafness is pigment related. Some dogs have white coats, but still have pigmented skin (Samoyeds, West Highland Terriers, and White German Shepherds fall into this category). Although they have white fur, they have black noses and eye rims (their fur is actually not pure white, but a very light buff color). Other dogs normally have colored coats, and white trim (this includes Dalmatians; the white is actually not their real coat color, the "spots" are). The "trim" comes from areas of unpigmented (pink) skin, which produces white hair. If there is unpigmented skin in the inner ear, the nerve endings atrophy and die off in the first few weeks of the puppy's life, resulting in deafness. You cannot tell the color of hairs in the inner ear by looking at any visible part of the dog's ears (including the hair around the ear canal). Although many dogs with white hair on their ears can be deaf, many deaf dogs have colored ears as well.