Shakari,

As far as I'm concerned especially if you know and play with a house cat they are very supple and stretch very easy just pick it up like would for the bear hug on that leopard. I'm sure Karl didnt go and stretch that leopard between a vehicle and a tree I wont use the word land rover as everyone knows they dont last in the bush LOL.

And the cat being 1 inch over the minimum on skull measurement I would say the length sounds correct. BTW taking your height in consideration with the good cat's first photo and last it doesnt look too much stretched out except for the legs on the ground the angle of the first photo and you not holding the cat properly high enough.

Even if you would stretch the cat on the ground as much as possible without the help of ropes or any other tool I'm sure youre not going to get more than 4"-6" difference anyway.