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White fur is the absence of any pigmentation. A solid white coat may be caused by any of three genetic mechanisms, which are completely different:
Albino white. This is recessive, and has been mentioned in the previous section.
Complete white spotting. The white spotting factor (S) is an incomplete dominant, which is affected by polygenetic modifiers and usually results in a cat that is only partially white. However, it can be so complete that it results in a completely white coat.
Dominant white. This mutation overrides all other genes for pigmentation, and produces a white coat and blue eyes. As its name implies, this is the effect of a dominant gene (W).
The dominant white can produce much deeper blue eye color than the albino.
Deafness in white cats is associated with the white spotting factor (S), and with the dominant white (W), but not with the albino white (c/c or ca/ca).