Cat Belly Buttons

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

So I'm reading kestrel91316's post about the surgery on the sick kitty, and there's a reference to an incision "south of the belly button." And I've had cats for years and years, and I know they should have belly buttons -- being placental mammals and all -- but I've never been able to find one, even though I've actually looked (much to the cat's puzzlement). Obviously it would be on the belly, but where? Do you have to shave off the fur to find it? And are they innies or outies?

Yes, this is a silly question. But I want to know, anyhow.

[Qanisqineq]

1. oooh, good question

I've always wondered that, too!

[IndyOp]

2. I didn't think they were visible - I thought Kestrel just meant

"at about the place the belly button would be" if one could find the belly button. Uh oh - now I am feeling the urge to try to find my dog's belly button!

:blush:

I don't think he'd mind - he is big on the belly rubs. :-)

[tencats]

3. I'll reach across my desk here, grab a cat and look for a belly button.

This one has a big belly button!
<>

This baby here has a diminutive button!
<>

The lower positioned areas of scar tissue on both cats is from recent spay surgeries.

[CottonBear]

4. Cool! How handy to have kitty belly button models available for photos!

Is the belly button the indented area in the top middle position between the top two nipples?

I've never seen my kitty's belly buttons. I'll have to look when I'm brushing them. There's lots of fur so I might have to feel for them.

My horse has a belly button. You can feel it. It's sort of hard to see it because you have to lean way over and stick your head under the horse's tummy and then look up!

[IndyOp]

5. Wow! That is just too cool! Now I really am going to have to

check my dogs => :rofl:

I am going to be somewhat embarrassed when Kestrel finds this thread -- she is going to think we are really silly. :blush:

[demnan]

7. We can always ask

and some DU cat lover will have a recently shaved (and responsibly nuetered or spayed) companion to display.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. As usual, DU is a font of wisdom. Now I know about cat navels.

I also asked my vet this question today (my cat, Milo, was in the hospital with a gastrointestinal infection -- he's fine now, fortunately), and he explained that cat belly buttons are basically "innies," though small and not very conspicuous, and they are up a bit higher on the cat than you might expect.

Now that I know what to look for, I will have to corral my cats and check them out.

Thanks!

[IndyOp]

8. I am a little disappointed, I just felt around on my dogs --

and can't find a bellybutton. And I cannot hold my 70-pound Golden Retriever in the position illustrated in Tencats pics ---> :(

:hi:

[kestrel91316]

9. Cats and dogs don't have innies or outies, they have flatties.

You would have to look hard to find a cat's umbilicus (the medical term) without shaving it.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. No luck so far. Too much fur.

But now at least I know it's there.

[huskerlaw]

11. If you brush the hair

on their tummies so that it's laying completely flat, you should be able to find it. The hair near the bellybutton won't lay completely straight or flat. :)