I had one just like the one in the picture. He was a tom and was stone deaf. He had been dropped off at a farm where we found him. We thought then that he was about half grown then but were amazed when he grew to a muscular 22lbs!
He was a beautiful animal with a long fluffy tail. Because of it, we named him "Rocky", as in the flying squirrel cartoon. He was gentle with little kids but fierce towards other animals, especially dogs, and was afraid of nothing. He was also by far the most intelligent cat that we have ever had and he had a lot of personality. He compensated well for his deafness. I am sure that he could feel vibrations in the floor etc. and would always respond normally. If you jingled the car keys behind his head, you could see that he was deaf then. I checked a neigbor's white cat this way and proved that he was deaf as well.
Sadly, he was struck by a car when he was 15.