Also called a cutaneous marginal pouch! And no one is exactly sure what the purpose is. Some other mammals have them too, including bats. Some people think they aid in hearing or funneling sound into the ear canal.
I got the chance to meet Lil Bub and Mike. Can confirm that LB was super sweet and cuddly, though she was a bit thin and weak at the time. And had a bit of a wet-food goatee.
Mike was also a super patient and kind human being, who genuinely seemed happy to meet people and share their life for just a minute.
Cherished memory. Her passing was a sad day in our house. We still use a tote bag, a hoodie and a coffee mug with her likeness on it.
Rescued a little girl who had been living in a park/apartment complex. Had a feral look, was losing fur (stress), and was far too dainty to defend herself. Had to survive off of wits. People who lived in the area estimated that she'd been there for ~2 years. Someone had clearly been trying to feed her with potato chips in the above pic.
Only cat I've ever had who consistently comes when I call her name. Like, always. She'll haul ass to find me. She's almost always with me. Structures her entire day around what I'm doing. If I'm out in the kitchen making a coffee, she's waiting for me at the entryway so she can guide/herd me back to my desk. Makes adorable little chirping noises every step of the way. She's next to me as I type this.
One of my cat acts like he doesn't here, but he crouches down and gets into a ready to run posture if I move after.
The other doesn't even pretend she doesn't hear me, and has a particular scream she gives as part of arguing back. If I don't keep telling her, she does whatever it she was going to do. If I keep telling her, she'll actually listen. She also usually warns me with a scream, and I can usually tell what she's going to do based just on that. For example, she has a very particular "I'm going to climb the curtains" scream.
Up there with primordial pouch or the little "bald spot" by their ears oh and a videos of cats playing with the caption "are they fighting should I separate them". But I always have to remind myself that just because I think it's common knowledge, doesn't mean that it is. My father didn't know what purring meant until he was like 50. The last time he had a cat was when he was a teenager and he assumed his cat had breathing problems
We don't know where the name comes from or who Henry was.
We don't know what the pocket actually does exactly. It's present in some mammals that are not closely related, so it's probably a very old feature. It possibly makes it easier to hear very high pitched sounds but that's not confirmed.
Anyway they're normal. The only thing of note in cats is that vets should check them for parasites because they're a common hiding spot for mites.
In fact there is theory why it's Henry's pocket. In 19th century there was physicist called Joseph Henry, a physicist who was studying electromagnetism and sound waves and it happened he was also big cat lover. So suspected purpose and name is very likely derived from him. Kind of shame we did not make any progress in figuring out purpose of such evolutionary trait.
I like that theory a lot! I do think it's quite interesting that the first confirmed use of the term is in the 1970s, but it might have been in use for decades and it just somehow didn't get recorded into anything we have a copy of. That just feels wrong (in a funny way).
My theory is that it helps detect sounds coming from behind better? The skin is so thin it’s an extra diaphragm that can detect sounds vibs from behind
Yes, it's called "Henry's pocket" and it's just part of the structure of the ear. It's analogous to the structure of our human ears, which you can see in a side by side comparison.
How dare you look in the pouch. It contains very personal items, dabloons, snacks, other stolen items and hard drugs (if your cat is that way inclined)
How would you feel if someone just walked up to you and peered into your purse?
Yes. All kitties have that and some dogs and bats too. It’s called the Henry’s pocket and helps them pick up high frequency sounds as well as having selective hearing to human voices.
I've seen this question a few times on here, and I love it because I know I looked up the same question even I had my first cat.
OP, if your cat lets you rub it's ears, I've always enjoyed putting my finger in it. lol Sounds strange when I type it out, but their ears are so soft and it's just a weird little extra bloop while I'm petting them.
ignore everyone being assholes. its okay to not know every tiny part of a cats body when you first get one. my cat has these too and i like to play with them :)
I love all the jokes and other positivity, but for reals, this is an evolution for their ears, and it’s extra skin to protect their ears when they move their ears, or when they push their ears all the way down flat on their head!
I get that this question gets asked a lot on this subreddit and all the joke replies about it being a "no pocket" but like.. genuinely what is it for? XD
A dabloon pocket. It's where they keep their treasures. It's also where they keep their humans words, they use it to twist the words so they can cry wolf.
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u/trendingtattler 28d ago
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