QUESTION

I have just noticed my male cat has got a bald stomach and it seems very large which seems hang he has four nipples. Is this right?
Sophie

ANSWER

Dear Sophie
Male cats do have nipples and the stomach hanging down will be due to being overweight. The bald patch however is usualy due to excessive grooming behaviour and is often associated with diet, parasites or stress from being in a multi cat household. I would be going down the line of making sure that he is on a premium cat food, using a good flea control product from your vets, worming him and also supplementing oils into his diet using viacutin or similar. If these steps do not work then there is a plug in diffuser called feliway that releases a pheromone into the environment that will often achieve the result of making the cat less stressed. Other treatments beyond this will mean taking him to the vets and having him properly assessed.

Paul Wilson