Tucker has developed a lump about the size of an M&M on his left hip.  It has come up just in the last couple of weeks.   I am not to worried about it at this point.  Just keeping an eye on it.  It doesn't seem to cause him any pain.  If it doesn't start going down in the next couple of weeks I am hauling the little butter butt in to the vet.

One of our neighbor cats, Avery, has an irritating habit of letting himself in through the screen door.  He pulled out the wire screen.  He got in 3-4 weeks ago and got into a real scrap with one of the cats.  Tucker's lump could be from that.  Avery may have grabbed Tucker from behind.

The weird thing I have noticed about this lump is that it has occurred in the same area that Tucker is developing matts.  I cut out two of them last week and he is developing another.  It could be that he is just too big tummy wise to reach around and wash his lower back.   Tucker is my heavy weight.  But I am wondering if the lump and the matts aren't connected in some way?

Has anyone seen anything like this before on your kitties?

Sometimes cats get feline acne near matted areas, but usually I see this happen on the chest near the cats armpits or on the chin.  Do cats have armpits?  You know what I mean...    Feline acne on the chest or chin can appear as little lumps with black debris.  If you can part the fur maybe you can see if that is what this lump looks like.  If not, I would say keep an eye on the lump and if it gets any bigger you might want to take him in and see if they can do a needle biopsy just to be safe.  Also, if he was scratched or bitten by the other cat there is a possibility that it is an abscess so you might want to watch for signs of infection.

Poor lumpy Tucker!  He has to take some self-defense classes.  If you can get him to sit still long enough, maybe trim the hair from around the lump so you can look at it better.  Hot compresses might bring the infection out if it's a claw hole. 

From my experiences with those, they tend to get bigger and eventually open and drain on their own, so if it's staying the same size, it might be something else.  Hope you can get it figured out before you have to take him in! 

Kitty treadmill - you could probably make some money on that. 

The only "lump" I've had experience with turned out to be CJ's microchip coming closer to the surface. Guess they float through . . . er . . .fat.

When Jess and Elizabeth got into it, she bit his ear pretty bad and he ended up with an abscess. It was more like a huge blister and when I cleaned it it popped and the fluid was released.  However, it would be way different in a different location.

Glad you're keeping an eye on it and will get Tucker to the vet if you need to. KIDS!!!

I wonder if Avery could have latched onto one of Tucker's mats and pulled on it.

My semi-long hair gets mats on the tummy and one of my "portly" black cats get mats near the tail area where the oils accumlate and he can't reach. 

Several years ago, KD had a little lump on her belly. Kind of felt like an extra nipple, and it didn't look infected or seem to be bothering her. No idea what caused it, but it went away with a course of antibiotics.

My first cat had a lump come up practically overnight and it was about the size of an M&M! The weird thing was it didn't have any hair on it - just a bald lump. The vet took one look at it and said "that's got to come off." It turned out to be a harmless cyst. Never had anymore problems with it.

Most of what I have found online about lumps on cats says that most of them are harmless.  Nonetheless, you don't know until you take the furry beast into the vet.  I am glad you kitties was just a cyst.  What a relief for you!!