Cat Muscles Quiz – Surface Muscles from the Side

All 20 muscles on the diagram

Show the list

Head, neck and shoulder 10

Masseter The thick cheek muscle. It forms the mass that stands out behind and below a cat's eye, and it closes the jaw.
Temporalis Fills the hollow on the side of the skull. A large muscle that runs down to the lower jaw.
Sternomastoid A flat band up the throat. It runs from the front end of the breastbone to the back of the skull.
Clavotrapezius The first of a cat's three trapezius muscles. It covers the side of the neck, from the back of the skull to the collarbone.
Acromiotrapezius The middle trapezius, a thin four-sided sheet. It runs from the middle line of the back to the spine of the shoulder blade.
Spinotrapezius The rear trapezius, a flat triangle. It runs from the spines of the chest vertebrae to the shoulder blade. It draws the shoulder blade up and back.
Clavobrachialis A flat muscle down the front of the shoulder and upper arm. It carries on from the clavotrapezius and is also called the clavodeltoid.
Acromiodeltoid One of the two deltoid muscles. It runs from the point of the shoulder blade, the acromion, to the upper arm.
Spinodeltoid The other deltoid muscle, rather thick and flat. It runs from the spine of the shoulder blade to the upper arm. It bends the shoulder and turns the arm outward.
Triceps brachii The large muscle at the back of the upper arm. It has three main parts, as its name says, and ends at the point of the elbow.

Trunk and hind leg 10

Latissimus dorsi A large triangular sheet over the upper half of chest and belly. It starts along the middle line of the back and ends on the upper arm.
Lumbodorsal fascia Not a muscle but a strong sheet of tendon over the loin. The latissimus dorsi and the external oblique both start from it.
External oblique Covers the whole belly and part of the chest. A large thin sheet that starts from the last nine or ten ribs and draws the belly in.
Sartorius A flat band along the front edge of the thigh. It runs from the hip bone to the knee, which it helps to straighten.
Tensor fasciae latae A thick triangular muscle at the hip. It fans out into the fascia lata, the pale sheet of tendon over the thigh.
Gluteus medius A very large triangular muscle of the hip. It runs from the hip bone and sacrum to the top of the thigh bone. It swings the thigh outward.
Caudofemoralis A flat band down the side of the thigh. It starts from the second and third bones of the tail. It swings the thigh outward and helps to straighten the knee.
Biceps femoris Covers about two-thirds of the outer side of the thigh. A very large flat muscle that starts from the seat bone and fans out to the knee and shin.
Semitendinosus A long slender muscle along the rear edge of the thigh. It runs from the seat bone to the inner side of the shin. It bends the knee.
Gastrocnemius The calf muscle, with the tendon of Achilles. The tendon runs down to the heel.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30 in two sources. J. Reighard and H. S. Jennings, Anatomy of the Cat (1901, public domain), for every muscle and where it lies, https://archive.org/details/anatomyofcat00reig. A. Davison, Mammalian Anatomy, with Special Reference to the Cat (1910, public domain), https://archive.org/details/mammaliananatom00davigoog. F. P. Gorham and R. W. Tower, A Laboratory Guide for the Dissection of the Cat (1899, public domain), https://archive.org/details/alaboratoryguid02towegoog. Wikipedia, Cat anatomy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_anatomy. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

This cat muscles quiz covers the muscles that lie just under the skin on the side of a cat. One view shows the head, neck and shoulder; the other shows the trunk and hind leg.

Read the full guide

Head and shoulder

A cat has three trapezius muscles where a person has one: clavotrapezius on the neck, acromiotrapezius over the shoulder blade and spinotrapezius behind it. It has two deltoids as well, the acromiodeltoid and the spinodeltoid. The clavobrachialis runs down the front of the arm and the triceps down the back.

Trunk and hind leg

Switch to Trunk, hind leg. The latissimus dorsi fans from the back to the arm, above the external oblique. On the thigh, the sartorius is the front edge, the biceps femoris the large middle and the semitendinosus the rear edge. Press Quiz me and the page becomes a cat muscle anatomy quiz.

The prefix says where a muscle starts: clavo- at the collarbone, acromio- at the point of the shoulder blade, spino- at a spine of bone.

Questions and answers

How many trapezius muscles does a cat have?

Three: the clavotrapezius, the acromiotrapezius and the spinotrapezius. Together they match the front, middle and rear parts of the single human trapezius.

What is the caudofemoralis?

A flat band of muscle that runs from the second and third bones of the tail down the side of the thigh. It swings the thigh outward and helps to straighten the knee.

Is the clavobrachialis the same as the clavodeltoid?

Yes. They are two names for the flat muscle on the front of a cat's shoulder and upper arm. It carries on from the clavotrapezius, and some books treat the two as one muscle.

Which cat muscle is the largest on the thigh?

The biceps femoris. It is a very large flat muscle that covers about two-thirds of the outer side of the thigh.