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Expert: - 3/30/2009


Question
Hi!  Do you know what the world's record is for the longest cat?  THANKS!  Janice

Answer
Janice,

I googled longest and cat and came up with this:

http://www.verismocat.com/htmscripts/leo-guinness.htm

Verismo Leonetti Reserve Red 2006 Guinness World Record Holder for Longest Cat

Meet Frieda Ireland’s pet cat Leo, as he is known, a 100% purebred domestic cat with a CFA pedigree.

The people of Chicago, Illinois can be proud to call the world’s biggest cat their own.
He is the Biggest Maine Coon Cat; the Largest Maine Coon Cat.

On NBC affiliate station, WMAQ TV, Leo is shown at the office of veterinarian Scott Rovner, DVM, where his size was earlier measured and adjudicated for submission to the Guinness World Records for the category "Longest Cat in the World".

Verismo Leonetti Reserve Red is beating the prior Longest Cat Guinness World Record holder, named Snowbie, by a whole 6 inches.
Verismo Leonetti Reserve Red is 48 inches tall from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail and weighs 35 pounds.  He holds the record for Longest Cat

Official Guinness Record on the Guinness Website Verismo Leonetti Reserve Red is being doted on at the Vet's office, about 6 months prior to Leo's return there, when the NBC-TV story was done.
Doctor Rovner is 6 ft. 2 in. tall for reference.       

Leo's veterinarian stresses the point that his frame is big enough to carry this much weight and that 35 pounds is a good, healthy weight for Leo, emphasizing that he is not overweight.
Leo’s length – and not weight – is what makes him a record breaker.  Guinness does not encourage people to fatten up their pets.

Guinness compares Verismo Leonetti Reserve Red to the same size as an 8 year old child and his paw just fits into a size 2 child's shoe.  But if he were a human to Guinness's scale, Leo would stretch over 8 feet tall and weigh 220 pounds.

Freida says “We have to keep our eye on him when we’re cooking, because he can stand up and put his paws on the kitchen counter.”  Leo's dietary favorites are listed by Guinness.  

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Norman Auspitz

Expertise

I can answer most non-veterinary questions about cats. My particular expertise is pedigree cats, breeding and showing. However, I am versed in feline behavior, cat breeds and their characteristics, general feline husbandry, and the like.

Experience

I judged for the Canadian Cat Association from 1975 until 1982. I am currently an approved allbreed judge for the Cat Fanciers'' Association (the world''s largets cat registry), and have been judging for them since 1991. I have been breeding pedigreed cats since 1971 and have been exhibiting pedigreed cats in shows since 1970. I obtained my first pedigreed cat in 1970 and have never looked back. In 1971, I obtained my first Abyssinian which has become my primary breed. In addition, I have bred Manx and Persians. Currently, besides the Abyssinians, I am also breeding Maine Coons.


Organizations
Cat Fanciers'' Association, inc. (CFA) and the Manx, Maine Coon, and Abyssinian breed councils. I am currently Abyssinian breed council secretary.

Publications
Cat Fancy Magazine, The Abyssinian Chapter in The Cat Fanciers'' Association Complete Cat Book, and Articles for various editions of The Cat Fanciers'' Association Yearbook

Education/Credentials
I received a B.S. from Drexel University in 1968, a M.Math from University of Waterloo, in 1970, a Ph.D. from University of Waterloo in 1975, and a MBA from McMaster University in 1980. I received my approved allbreed judging status in the Cat Fanciers'' Association in 1999.

Awards and Honors
We have produced a number of Cat Fanciers'' Association (CFA) National winning Abyssinian and Maine Coons. We have produced a number of Abyssinian and Maine Coon Distinguished Merit females (an award for a top producing cat), including the first Distinguished Merit Abyssinian in the red (sorrel) color. I am the CFA Abyssinian breed council secretary and belong and/or hold office in a number of cat clubs. I am also a member of the CFA Judges Association.

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