I often observed that the cats we lived with tended to have a somewhat droopy belly. I looked for information about this and discovered that all members of the cat family have a “floppy belly”, although the degree of floppiness varies with the individual cat. This ‘floppy belly” is called a primordial pouch.
The pouch is more obvious on some cats than others. I once was co-caretaker for a litter of four kittens. When they grew to adulthood, one of them had an incredibly saggy pouch, whereas her sister had a pouch that was all but invisible. That’s just the way it is.
The breed or species of a cat can have some bearing on how noticeable the pouch is. However, whether or not there in fact is a primordial pouch does not depend on breed, species, gender, nor on neutered or not neutered. All cats have them.
You may notice the pouch sway when your kitty walks or runs, which can be somewhat alarming when you first see this. I hope this blog post may help you understand that what you are seeing may be a normal characteristic of cats and not necessarily cause for concern.
When I say that all cats have primordial pouches, I do literally mean all members of the cat family, even including the wild cats and the big cats.
Domestic Cats have the pouches:
Bobcats have the pouches:
Lions have them too:
By the way, if you would like to explore some other ways your Domestic Cat shares characteristics with the Big Cats, my blog post titled Is My Cat Like a Tiger? should be your next stop.
Why Do Cats Have a Primordial Pouch?
There are three reasonable but unproven “theories” on the function of a cat’s primordial pouch:
1. to allow that area to stretch so the stomach can expand
The idea here is that a cat may want to eat as much is possible when food is present as insurance for times when food resources may be scarce. The cat may figure that since food is available right now, I will eat as much as I can and store it in my belly in case I cannot find any food later.
Domestic Cat eating habits are certainly different from those of cats living in the wild, as described in my blog post Why Are Cats Picky Eaters. However, our Domestic Cats have nevertheless inherited their wild ancestor’s floppy belly.
2. to allow that area to stretch and thus provide flexibility for running and jumping
You may have observed that stretching is a typical cat behavior. Sometimes it appears they do it just to relax their back and shoulders.
The stretching of their body is obvious when they leap on the kitchen counter or when they are running.
3. to protect vital organs
Perhaps you have seen your kitty playing with a stuffed toy and using their rear paws to scratch at the toy.
We might assume this same activity might go on in a fight with another cat, in which case the cat receiving the scratching might be afforded some protection by the primordial pouch.
Do We Know Why Cats Have a Primordial Pouch?
I did find two respected academic sources [1] [2] that referred to these three ‘theories”.
However, none of the articles, including the academic ones, cited any scientifically studied sources, nor could I find any scientific study sources during my own search.
One or more of these “theories” may actually be right. All three make sense, which is probably why they are suggested as reasons for the pouch by credible people.
However, as best I can tell, we do not know for sure why cats have a primordial pouch.
Why Do We Call Our Cat’s Belly a Primordial Pouch?
I cannot find the origin of the term primordial pouch, so I cannot say who decided to call it that.
Synonyms[3] for the word primordial include primitive and ancient. Since all members of the cat family have the primordial pouch, I would imagine it reasonable to conclude this characteristic appeared early in the evolutionary history of cats.
Many of our Domestic Cats’ physical and behavioral characteristics are handed down to them from their ancestors. For more about this, drop in on my blog post What Are Cat Natural Instincts?
So the cat primordial pouch has apparently been part of cats for a long time. However, I guess much of what we would like to know about this is, at least for the present, simply not known.
What we do know is that this pouch is part of a cat’s body, so knowing that may hopefully relieve some of your concern and wondering about what the heck it is.
Is It Okay to Ignore My Cat’s Floppy Belly?
You know your cat has a primordial pouch, whether it be prominent or hardly noticeable.
But if you have reason to suspect obesity, pregnancy, cancer, or something else, you should take your kitty to visit your veterinarian. Just because we know the primordial pouch is there does not eliminate the possibility that your cat has some other problem that warrants consideration.
Knowledge is a good thing, and so is peace of mind.
For More Information About Cats
I have a blog post titled Learn About Cats, and you are invited.
References:
[1] catnip newsletter from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, Ever wonder why your otherwise fit and healthy cat has a pouch hanging from his belly? December 4, 2017
[2] CatWatch, the independent newsletter produced in collaboration with the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Feline Health Center, The Primordial Pouch, August 21, 2020
[3] Thesaurus.com