• 20 parts
  • Checked September 2026

Parts of a Cat

A cat standing side-on, with the names used in 4-H cat projects and breed standards.

Parts of a Cat

Name Date

Tap any part to read, rename or leave it out

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
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Write the name of each numbered part.Answer key

  1. Ears
  2. Eyes
  3. Nose leather
  4. Whiskers
  5. Cheek
  6. Shoulder
  7. Chest
  8. Ribs (rib cage)
  9. Flank
  10. Hip
  11. Rump
  12. Tail
  13. Elbow
  14. Foreleg
  15. Wrist
  16. Toes
  17. Paw pads
  18. Thigh
  19. Knee
  20. Hock

Drawn for this site on 2026-10-05 by script. Licence: own drawing; outline after a public domain plate.

Each numbered ring is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a part is answered.

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All 20 parts on the diagram

Show the list

Start here: 7 main parts 7

  1. Ears The two upright, pointed ears on top of the head.
  2. Eyes Cats see far better than people in dim light.
  3. Whiskers Long, stiff hairs growing from the whisker pads on the muzzle.
  4. Ribs (rib cage) The rib cage, the middle of the body behind the shoulder.
  5. Tail A cat's long tail helps it balance.
  6. Foreleg The front leg, from the elbow down to the wrist.
  7. Hock The joint pointing back on the hind leg, like a person's heel.

Head: 5 2

  1. Nose leather The bare pad at the tip of the nose, with the nostrils.
  2. Cheek The side of the face, below the eye and above the jaw.

Body: 7 5

  1. Shoulder Where the front leg joins the body, over the shoulder blade.
  2. Chest The front of the body, over the breastbone.
  3. Flank The side of the body in front of the hind leg.
  4. Hip The hip bone, at the top front of the hindquarters.
  5. Rump The top of the hindquarters, down to the base of the tail.

Legs and paws: 8 6

  1. Elbow The joint at the top back of the front leg.
  2. Wrist The joint low on the front leg, above the paw.
  3. Toes Five toes on each front paw and four on each back paw.
  4. Paw pads Soft pads under the paws that help a cat move silently.
  5. Thigh The muscular top of the hind leg.
  6. Knee The joint at the front of the hind leg, below the thigh.

How this list was compiled: Read 2026-09-26. (1) Wisconsin 4-H Cat Project, Unit 1, Parts of the Cat (Dane County Fair copy), https://cdn.saffire.com/files.ashx?t=fg&rid=DaneCountyFairWI&f=4-H-Cat-Project-Unit-1.pdf&cb=3a034ef9 : tail, ears, neck, hindquarters, back, spine, nape, cheek, loin, hip, rump, flank, ribs, whiskers, shoulder, metatarsals, belly, knee, heel, chest, elbow, foreleg, wrist, metacarpals, toes, nose, jaw, lips, mouth, tongue, thigh, shank, eyes, pads; cats see about six times as well as people in starlight. (2) LOOF / TICA, Terminology of the cat's anatomy as it applies to breed standards (Marge Hanna), https://bis.loof.asso.fr/download/14-en-termin_anat-20150101.pdf : nose leather, muzzle, whisker pads (controlling the whiskers), cheekbone, ear, eye, front point of the shoulder, shoulder blade, sternum or breast plate, long bones of the front legs, carpals, toes (five front, four back), elbow, flank, knee, thigh, hock, rump, tail, hip bone, rib cage. (3) Wikipedia, Cat anatomy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_anatomy : soft paw pads help a cat stalk silently; cats are digitigrade and walk on their toes. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-05 by script. The outline of the body and legs follows a public domain plate, mirrored: St George Mivart, The Cat (1881), the figure Relative proportion of skeleton to the exterior of the cat, engraver unknown (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cat_skeleton_drawing.JPG, public domain); outline points were read off the plate. Changed from the plate: the tail is raised, the head is a tenth larger and the hind leg stretched back is drawn as the near one; the face, ears, toes and pads are our own drawing. Where the picture departs from a cat: there is a small step at the throat above the chest, the near hind leg has no bulge at the knee, the paws are longer than a cat's round paw and the eye is drawn as if seen from the front. Licence: own drawing; outline after a public domain plate

How it works

The parts of a cat on one short-haired cat standing side-on. Start with the 7 main parts, then the head, the body, and the legs and paws.

Read the full guide

Head and body

The nose leather is the bare tip of the nose. Whiskers grow from pads on the muzzle, below the eye and in front of the cheek. Behind the shoulder, the ribs make up the middle of the body; the flank, hip and rump lead to the tail.

Legs and paws

On the front leg, the elbow sits against the body and the wrist sits low, above the paw. On the hind leg, the knee faces forward and the hock points back. Under each paw are soft pads.

  • A cat's hock is its heel: cats walk on their toes, so the heel sits high up the hind leg.

Questions and answers

How many toes does a cat have?

Usually 18: five on each front paw and four on each back paw.

What is the nose leather on a cat?

The bare, hairless pad at the tip of the nose, which holds the nostrils.

What is the back leg joint of a cat called?

The hock, the joint that points backwards. It matches a person's heel. Higher up, the knee faces forwards.

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