What is this on my cats belly?

I'm really sorry if this is dumb and it's just his nipple or something. But, we noticed this spot on our cats lower belly area. He's a 2 year old male, gray and white. We haven't noticed him scratching this area at all or anything, and he's been acting normally. My husband thinks it's just his nipple, but he doesn't have any other spots that look like this. It's maybe about half an inch around. Thank you for any answers, and again sorry if this is a dumb question!

That's something that needs to be looked at by a vet.  It looks aggravated for a nipple.

It's hard to tell from a picture alone. Your vet should take a look and he or she can also check for puffiness, scaly skin etc. It can be practically anything, from a fungal, bacterial or even viral infection to a tumor, or it could certainly also be just some sort of discoloration that's entirely benign.

I would call your vet and ask, maybe even email them a picture and see if they think this is urgent or could wait until your next regular check-up. Good luck and let us know what they said! 

No, it's not a nipple. The black dots around it make me think it could be a fungal infection. I think Anne gave you the best advise; e-mail the picture to your vet and ask what they think it is.

Hope it's nothing serious. Let us know what they say.

Possible ringworm

It looks as if it is irritated skin around a nipple from the photo but am not sure.  I agree it would be best for a vet to look at this, esp if it is the only patch and skin around other nipples is not the same.

I previously had a cat who presented with a very similar looking round patch of hair loss which was the same size as you describe and with the little specks around the edges. No itching.   My first reaction was ring worm / fungal infection and you should have seen me pick that poor kitty up and get it in her carrier and down to the vet fast as I could (because I'm mean and didn't fancy catching an infection myself).     When the vet saw it he said it was catastrphic hair loss which was probably due to her regular booster injection which had been on that site a month or so before.  I'm not sure it that kind of hair loss can happen for other reasons.   Talking to the vet to see if sending a photo would help determine the urgency is a great idea.

When I enlarge the photo, I can see your cat's nipple. The surrounding skin looks a bit red and the black spots are possibly clogged sebaceous glands - overproducing oil in that area. If your kitty is a bit overweight (I have a couple of little chunkers ) then when your cat is lying on it's side the skin of that area folds over and even sometimes it won't unfold during their own personal grooming thus making it difficult to clean that folded area. The skin can become greasy and pores clogged leading to the black clogged pores, rubbed off hair and redness. I assume your cat is neutered. That does not look like ringworm at all, IMO, and is not a usual place to first see a lesion anyway. Check the other nipple areas too. Also - check your cat for possible flea dirt although I am not thinking this is flea dirt. If there are other black specks elsewhere in your cats coat - drop them on a white section of paper towel - drop water on the black specks and if they turn red then they could be flea dirt. If it were me - I would clean the area twice daily with Hibiclens http://www.hibiclens.com/retail for a couple of days and see if I get improvement. Hibiclens can easily be picked up at your local pharmacy. Certainly, if the area become more red/inflamed - a vet check is the next step! You may need to pick up Mupirocin ointment from your vet which will help heal that area quickly. Keep us posted, please!!!