Like a cat, the curiosity of my former journalism days still often gets the better of me.
So that when the political reference to someone as a “bald-pooch cat” was brought back to the fore during the recent public debate on the no-confidence motion tabled in Parliament by Opposition Leader Mia Mottley against Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler, I found myself moved to get to the bottom of this typically 100 per cent Bajan saying.
From the youngest child to the oldest super-centenarian know that in Barbados the word “pooch” refers to one thing and one thing only, namely the buttocks/bottom/backside/tail/rear end or whatever else you choose to call it.
However, it appears that only in Barbados is that part of the anatomy so called. I have checked every possible source of information, medical and otherwise, including the on-line Urban Dictionary, and nowhere could I find where the word “pooch” = buttock/bottom, etc.
In the outside world, a pooch is what we commonly call a “powch” in reference to a person with a big guts. It is also a non-derogatory term for the pad of fat found just south of a woman’s navel, another name for the skin on your knee, or the bump that forms at the front of your pants when you sit down, among various other usages.
So what is a bald-pooch cat? I have never seen one that I am aware of because I have never been a cat lover, primarily because they eat all sorts of dirty things like rats and cockroaches. However, I was familiar with bald-pooch hens, having grown up at a time when conventions didn’t prevent homeowners from keeping chickens and other feathered stock, sheep and other animals on their premises. For some reason, hens like to pick the feathers from around the pooches of other hens.
Folklore also had it that the baldness on the fowl pooch was sometimes caused by the bygone habit of boys seeking their right of passage to manhood in an era when hiddy biddys where ordered to shut up their laps tight, tight, tight.
A few years ago, I discovered that one of my dogs was becoming bald pooched. Perplexed about what could have been the reason for this condition in a very healthy animal, I sent him to the vet and was surprised at the diagnosis that it was caused by the animal being allergic to a certain kind of dog food. Some canned dog foods also do the same. It’s also very important not to use your own shampoo on your dogs because they may be just as allergic to that as well. Use dog shampoo only.
So back to the question of what is a bald-pooch cat? One answer I found on line using “bottom” instead of “pooch” was as follows: “We have the same problem with one of our cats and we found out it’s because he had gotten just a few fleas and began licking himself excessively. Because that is a main area that cats tend to lick a lot, he had actually licked all the hair off around his butt (pooch). Another problem could be that your cat has worms and that is causing the hair loss.”
There you have it.
• Al Gilkes heads a public relations firm.
