Turkish Angora

Often, yes — but not always, and it depends on coat and eye color. Roughly 65-85% of pure-white, blue-eyed Turkish Angoras are deaf in one or both ears because the dominant white gene tied to blue eyes also disrupts the inner ear. An odd-eyed white is frequently deaf only on the blue-eyed side; non-white Angoras carry no elevated deafness risk. Get a BAER hearing test or do a clap-behind-the-head check, and if the cat is deaf, keep it strictly indoors — it cannot hear traffic or you.

A healthy Turkish Angora from screened lines typically lives 15 to 18 years, which is long even by domestic-cat standards. The lifespan caveat is cardiac: HCM is the breed's leading cause of premature death and is silent until advanced. Cats that receive periodic cardiologist echocardiograms from age 2-3 onward, stay lean, and get prompt treatment generally reach the upper end of that range; unscreened lines with early-onset HCM or kitten ataxia skew far shorter.

Surprisingly little for a longhair. The Angora's silky coat has no woolly undercoat, so it resists matting — one 5-minute brush a week is enough, rising to twice weekly during the spring and autumn sheds. The real maintenance is not the coat: budget a weekly check of the ears and the fur around the eyes, and accept that the genuine 'high-maintenance' part of this breed is its need for daily interactive play, not its grooming.

Yes for space, with one condition: stimulation. Angoras are compact and adapt well to apartments, but they are athletic, vocal, and demand 30-45 minutes of interactive play a day. A bored Angora in a small flat becomes destructive and noisy, which is the top rehoming trigger for the breed. They suit a work-from-home owner or a household with a second pet far better than a cat left alone 10 hours a day. Deaf white Angoras must be indoor-only.

A pet-quality kitten from a registered breeder who screens for HCM and deafness typically runs $600-$1,200, with show lines higher. The hidden cost is cardiac: HCM diagnostics and lifelong management (echocardiograms, medication, and emergency care for a thromboembolic event) can total $2,000-$5,000+ over the cat's life. Budgeting a screening echocardiogram every 1-2 years from age 2-3 is the cheapest insurance in this breed — early-detected HCM is far cheaper to manage than a crisis.

No — and buying one expecting that is the most common owner mistake. Angoras are assertive, athletic, and talkative; they 'help' with every household task, ride on shoulders, fetch, open cupboards, and vocalize to get attention well into old age. They are affectionate but on their own terms and stay kitten-like for years. If you want a placid, independent, low-interaction cat, this is the wrong breed; if you want an engaged companion that acts almost like a dog, it is an excellent one.