2014: Current Cat World Records

This is a list of the current cat world records at April 2014 (published today July 6th). The reason why I am checking out these records is because I wanted to see whether the world’s tallest domestic cat was listed because that cat was Magic about 4 years ago.

You may remember her. She is still alive and living in California, when I last checked. She is a first filial (F1) Savannah cat. She measures 17.1 inches to the shoulder and held the world record and who was later beaten to the record in 2011 by another first filial Savannah cat (“Trouble”), who very sadly died having escaped from his home. I think he was run over. This means that Magic should still be the record holder.

However, there is no longer a record for the world’s tallest or largest domestic cat. To be honest, I was never quite sure whether Magic was the tallest or the largest. Perhaps she was both. I think she was.

In any case she appears to be no longer in the record books but these cats are:

Longest Fur

Everybody knows the Himalayan cat with the world’s longest fur. He was Colonel Meow. He was the world’s hairiest feline! He looked extraordinary. He died but his brother lives on and he is called Merlin the Meowciful, or Sir Merlin.

Loudest Purr

Next we have the domestic cat with the loudest purr. The loudest purr he makes is 67.7 dB. His name is Smokey. Smokey is owned by Lucinda Adams who lives in Northampton UK. Smokey is a tabby cat. In fact he is tabby and white. He made the record loudest purr on March 25, 2011.

Largest Cat

The largest cat of any sort living today is called Hercules and he is a male lion/female tiger hybrid (see him and more fun cat facts). This is a case of deliberate breeding because in the wild this would not happen. It appears that his size is an example of hybrid vigour which means when two species mate sometimes (always?) the offspring are bigger than the parents when adult. As at 2020, Apollo is claimed to be the largest.

Hercules lives at Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina USA. He is 3.33 metres long and 1.25 metres at the shoulder. He weighs 922 pounds. The weight of a Bengal tiger is around 450 pounds. Half the weight of Hercules. The width of Hercules’s head is about the width of a woman’s shoulders.

Longest Cat

The world longest domestic cat was a Maine Coon cat whose name was Stewart. He measured 48.5 inches long. He recently died. He was measured on August 20, 2010 and at that time he was 5 years old.

Most Expensive Cat

The most expensive cat according to the Guinness World Records was a Californian Spangled Cat which was bought for $24,000 in January 1987. The cat was the display cat on the Newman Marcus Christmas book of 1986. I think you will find that the photograph on this page is the only one of this cat on the Internet unless somebody has stolen it. I have to dispute this record because I have a feeling that one or two of the first filial Savannah cats sold by A1 Savannahs may have surpassed this price. I’m not sure, however. Also, and more importantly, Undana Power a close friend of Paul Casey the person who created the California Spangled says the figures quoted by Guinness World Records are incorrect.

Largest Litter

The largest litter of kittens was 19. Four of the kittens were stillborn. They were born on August 7, 1970. The parents were a Burmese and a Siamese cat. The cats’ caretaker was V. Gane who lived in Oxfordshire UK. Apparently the average litter size for these cats is 4-6.

Smallest Cat

The world’s smallest cat on record, who died in November 1997 at the age of 6, was Tinker Toy. He was a blue point Himalayan male cat. He was 7 cm tall (2.75 inches) and 19 cm long (7.5 inches) when fully grown at aged 2.5 years. His caretaker was Katrina and Scott Forbes who live in Taylorville, Illinois, USA.

Most Kittens

420 is the number of kittens produced by Dusty, a tabby cat who was born in 1935 in Bonham, Texas, USA. She gave birth to her last letter, which incidentally was a single kitten, on June 12, 1952.

Largest Hybrid

Guinness World Records also list the largest cat hybrid, which as mentioned is Hercules.

Most Toes

The polydactyl cat with the most toes is Jake who has 28 toes. He has 7 toes on each paw. Jake lives in Bonfield, Ontario, Canada. His caretakers are Michelle and Paul Contant. The counting of the toes was conducted by a veterinarian on September 24, 2002. Jake is a ginger tabby cat.

Oldest

The current oldest living cat is Pinky who was born on October 31, 1989. She lives with Linda Anno in Hoyt, Kansas USA. Pinky is an indoor cat and has suffered cancer as a result of which her hind rear leg was amputated. Her current age is 34 years as at the date of this article. This record has been contradicted in a recent newspaper article. You occasionally see newspaper articles about the world’s oldest cat which appear to be fiction or guesswork.

Note: How accurate are Guinness World Records? See also: biggest and baddest cat facts.