A super-ripped cat with bulging muscles is not something you see everyday, so it’s no surprise that a photo uploaded to Reddit’s ‘Damn That’s Interesting’ forum showing a Sphynx cat with biceps is causing such a stir.
Uploaded by Redditor bsmith2123, the photo shows the kitty lying on soft furnishings staring out the window with his prominent shoulders on full display and the size of his muscles made even more impressive by the lack of fur.
The photo was captioned with the words “House cat suffering from Myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy - a rare condition that causes muscles to grow excessively large.
Already amassing over 85,000 upvotes and 5,000 comments in the 24-hours since it was posted, the image has generated a large amount of interest and discussion amongst the public, many of whom have never seen anything quite like it.
house_cat_suffering_from_myostatinrelated_muscle from r/Damnthatsinteresting
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One user wrote, “Is he actually suffering? Or will he be alright?” with a fellow Redditor jumping in with “I don’t think there’s any significant health issues associated with Myostatin deficiency, so he should be fine.”
Others had a more humorous take on the feline’s predicament, with TheGoodOldCoder musing, “I wonder what the cat would look like all oiled up” and another chiming in with, “I seriously never thought I would see a cat that straight up just looks like a pit bull.”
But perhaps the funniest comments came from theundercoverpapist who said “he meows in an Austrian accent”, to which armharm replied, “Meowsta-la-vista, baby.”
The National Organization for Rare Disorders says that Myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy is “a rare condition characterized by reduced body fat and increased muscle size. Affected individuals have up to twice the usual amount of muscle mass in their bodies. They also tend to have increased muscle strength. This condition is not known to cause any medical problems, and affected individuals are intellectually normal. Myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy is caused by mutations in the MSTN gene. It follows an incomplete autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance."
