Have you ever seen a cat with a belly that was slightly distended or fluffy? Have you ever wondered what that was? Well, it turns out that this is the primordial pouch.
Over the summer, we came across a street cat that looked to be pregnant (and that we know has had at least one litter in the past). And since we were concerned, we reached out to a rescue to get this cat removed from the street. After all, this was a very friendly kitty, and it seemed like she might be pregnant again.
It turns out that she was not pregnant, but instead she was just chunky with a primordial pouch. But what is the primordial pouch? And do both male and female cats have this? Here’s what we found out thanks to the experts at PetMD.
What is a cat’s primordial pouch?
So it turns out that the primordial pouch on a cat is essentially loose skin that hangs in between their rear legs. It’s basically just a pouch. And it seems that cats are the only animals that have a primordial pouch.
One thing to note is that only older cats will have that noticeable primordial pouch. It seems that as cats get older, that particular area of their body becomes more pronounced. It will not necessarily be obvious on every cat, but it does seem like most cats will have that extra pouch of skin on their underside.
This means that both male and female cats will have a primordial pouch. And we are more likely to see female cats having a pronounced primordial pouch, especially if they have given birth. However, if your cat has been larger and lost weight, they will also have that distinctive pouch or apron.
One thing that we found interesting to learn was that there is a genetic aspect of the primordial pouch. Different breeds of cat can see a variation in this aspect of their body.
Honestly, there’s something rather endearing about seeing that little pooch to our kitty’s belly. And learning a little bit more about our cats and their make up, can really enlighten us in terms of what we should pay attention to and what’s not that big of a deal.