Cat Muscles Diagram Unlabeled – Side View to Print

All 20 muscles on the diagram

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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 diagram is unlabeled: one standing cat seen from its left side, head to the left, with the muscles under the skin drawn as patches. Twenty lines lead out from them, and each ends in blank space.

Read the full guide

The twenty names, head to heel

Temporalis, masseter, sternomastoid, clavotrapezius, acromiotrapezius, spinotrapezius, clavobrachialis, acromiodeltoid, spinodeltoid and triceps brachii; then latissimus dorsi, lumbodorsal fascia, external oblique, sartorius, tensor fasciae latae, gluteus medius, caudofemoralis, biceps femoris, semitendinosus and gastrocnemius.

Lines that get swapped

Above the neck and shoulder, three lines in a row go to the three trapezius muscles, front to back. Four lines fan out below the shoulder. The two that run toward the head are the acromiodeltoid, the longer one, and the clavobrachialis. The two that run toward the tail are the spinodeltoid, the upper one, and the triceps brachii. Behind the hind leg, from the top: caudofemoralis, biceps femoris, semitendinosus.

Short lines inside a patch show which way its fibers run. A line to fill in starts on a dot and ends outside the cat.
No line goes to the forearm or the shin: their muscles are not drawn. The patch between gluteus medius and tail is the gluteus maximus.
A lab manual may print temporal muscle for temporalis and sternomastoideus for sternomastoid. Cephalohumeral means the clavotrapezius and the clavobrachialis taken as one muscle.

Questions and answers

Is the gluteus maximus the biggest hip muscle of a cat?

No. In the cat the gluteus maximus is a rather small muscle, and the gluteus medius in front of it is a very large one. That is why the line at the hip goes to the medius.

What is the cutaneus maximus of a cat?

A very large, thin muscle that covers almost the whole side of the body, with fibers that end in the skin. It lies over the muscles on this diagram, so it is not drawn.

Which cat muscles do not show from the side?

Those of the underside and the inner side of the legs. The pectoral muscles cross the chest, the rectus abdominis runs beside the midline of the belly, and the gracilis covers part of the inner thigh.

Does the unlabeled cat muscles diagram come with an answer key?

Yes. It prints the cat again with all twenty names written at the ends of their lines, four of them short: Acromiotrap., Clavobrach., Triceps and Semitendin.