Anatomy of Cat Coats

Cat coats are the basic structure, which gives more emphasis anatomically. The coats give the cat its rich or enriched appearance. The color of the coat in any of the cat species depends on the thickness of skin, specialty of cat species, anatomical arrangement of various cutaneous layers, etc. The coat comprises hair materials, which reveal appreciable movements during walking or running.

Cat coat comprises long hair and short hair. The mutant coat has hair that is peculiar to the concerned breed. The type of hair materials in cat’s body includes primary hair, secondary hair and down hair. The medullations are noticed in both primary and secondary hair. The primary hairs are called as guard hairs whereas the secondary hairs are termed as awn.

There are appreciable differences in the thickness of the hair in the cat coats and for example the primary hair is thickest one and have tapering end with a fine tip in them. The thin hair is the secondary hair and the ratio of secondary to the primary hair in dorsal region is 10:1, where as in regions located ventrally, this ratio gets changed to 24:1, respectively.

The coat in a classic cat species has more secondary hair, in general. The cat coat color solely depends many factors including nutrition, genes etc. The mean hair growth of primary hair in cats is 295 micrometer per day. The growth rate of secondary hair observed is 260 micrometer per day. Even the scrotum of cat species has full hair development and this feature may not be seen in other species of mammals.

The cat coats are supplied with plexuses of veins and arteries and the superficial plexus, middle plexus and deep plexus are all associated with skin.

The anagen is the period that helps in producing new hair of the cat coat and it displaces the telogen hair, Merkel’s cellsk, Meissner’s corpuscles etc. form the mechanoreceptors from which afferent nerve fibers originate. The cat coat is very thin when compared to the dog’s fur and the elasticity is more in addition to the pliability.

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