Note: Contrary to suggestions on some bulletin boards, the images here are not photoshop. With the exception of those labelled as artist's impressions these are photos of medical conditions. This page is intended as a medical reference. Offsite links to images on these pages is not supported - bandwidth costs money!

This page deals with miscellaneous skeletal anomalies, excluding the head and legs (these have their own pages).

HYPERTROPHY OF THE SCAPULA

In 2014, Kassandra Bradberry provided photos and information on her five year old lilac lynx point Siamese, Yoki. Yoki has "grown" very large scapulae (shoulder bones), giving him a “Brahman cattle hump”. The scapulae appeared normal when he was a kitten. The overgrowth (hypertrophy) happened subtly as Yoki grew. Now that he is full grown, they have stopped growing so it seems they grew at a different rate compared to the rest of his skeleton. He has been examined by a vet, and the oversized scapulae don’t appear to cause any discomfort although Yoki tends to walk and then flop to one side down on the ground a little more than most cats. Despite a finicky appetite, Yoki is a bit overweight, suggesting he is less active than others of his breed.

If you have come to this page directly from a search engine, please check out FELINE MEDICAL CURIOSITIES for the full index of topics including

• What Causes Medical Curiosities?
• Extra or Deformed Toes, Paws and Limbs, Split Foot, Twisted Limbs, Mummification of Limbs, Accidental Part-Amputation of Limbs, Curly Tails
• Conjoined Kittens
• Anomalies of the Fur and Skin, the Green Kitten, Hairlessness, Curly Fur, All Black Siamese (Porphyria?), Pink Cats
• Facial Deformities: Hydrocephaly, Cleft Palate, Anomalies of the Eyes and Ears, Two-Headed/Two-faced Kittens
• Anomalies of Size: Dwarf Cats, Giant Cats, Fat Cats
• Miscellaneous Anomalies: The Dancing Cats of Japan

BOOKS ABOUT ANOMALIES

If you are interested in medical curiosities, books worth reading are "Mutants: on the Form, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body" by Armand Marie Leroi and "Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine Vols 1 and 2" by George M. Gould & Walter L. Pyle. The Gould & Pyle books were published in 1896 and are in the public domain. You can download text-only versions of Gould & Pyle from several websites so don't waste money on text-only versions of the book; but if you want the versions with photos, consider the Kessinger editions. The Leroi book explains why and how some deformities and anomalies happen - the mechanism is the same in cats as it is in humans.

MESSYBEAST CATS : CURIOUS CATS AND MEDICAL ANOMALIES

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