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There have been some differing opinions about the thickness of the skin of cats and dogs lately on this site.

I do think the thickness of the skin of cats is about the same as it is in humans, and that this means one needs to be very careful when cutting or shaving a cat's fur.

I do believe that the skin of a dog is at least twice the thickness of what is in cats and humans, and that it is less likely to get damaged by cutting or shaving the fur.

So the question is: do cats have very thin skin compared to dogs?

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    the question is about the skin only and not about the fur.
    – trond hansen
    Jun 7, 2017 at 12:49
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    Impossible to quantify as it depends on the dog and the cat, and which area of skin on that dog or cat. Yes, dog skin is usually thicker than cats', but there are little old Malteses out there who have thinner skin than the average cat. Kitten and puppy skin is thinner than adult skin, and at the other end of life skin thins as cats, dogs, people enter their senior years. If you really want a quantitative comparison you will need to choose precisely which populations of cats or dogs you want to compare.
    – Harry V. ♦
    Jun 7, 2017 at 20:27
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    adult cat and dog and about same size,an general answer is fine,i understand thickness of dogs skin vary a lot between breeds,and in cats a little less between breeds.i know there is not many dog breeds at the size of cats so the answer might be relative to size of the pet.
    – trond hansen
    Jun 8, 2017 at 5:06

1 Answer 1

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Here is a PDF link about dog and cat skin thickness. It states that dogs have a thickness of 2.6-5.2mm , while a cat has 0.4-3.6mm skin thickness. One should also take into consideration cats skin is more flexible and hangs off of the muscle, so that injuries are more superficial.

Skin and Coat
Jill Cline, Ph.D.

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    i marked this as solved but other answers can still be posted to add more information to my question.
    – trond hansen
    Jun 13, 2017 at 5:20

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