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Why does my orange cat have black spots on his nose, lips, and paws?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | American Shorthair | Male | unneutered | 1 year and 6 months old | 8 lbs

My cat is developing Black spots which started noticeably on his nose and I looked in his mouth and was shocked to see his lips were black and he is an orange and white cat. And then I looked at his paws which are pink and there'are black spots developing on them and his Fur is looking like it's orange intermixed with black now.Like a ticking kind of black it's really strange I've had a lot of cats in my life and have never seen anything like this. I'm afraid I might have to put him to sleep.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Kevin Sanada, DVM

Answered By Kevin Sanada, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on August 13th, 2017

This is most likely a condition known as Lentigo, which tends to happen in young orange cats. It is merely a pigment disorder and does not cause any serious harm.

It is also possible (I think much less likely) that it is melanoma, which can be a harmful cancer. The best thing you can do is have a veterinarian take a biopsy of the skin and send it to the laboratory for analysis. They will be able to what the cause of this is.

Either way, I think you are far from having to consider putting Little Boy down at this time.

I hope this helps and Little Boy gets the all-clear from the lab.
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