World Record Pets

Hercules

By Suzanne Alicie

Do you believe your pet has what it takes to break a world record? Oh sure, we all think our pets are award winners, because we love them. But people and their pets have set world records for many years, and these records aren’t easily broken. Take a gander at these incredible animals and how they found their way into the books.

Got a big dog or cat on your hands? To break the record, your dog needs to outsize Hercules, a friendly English Mastiff, weighing in at 282 pounds. A gentle dog with a 38-inch neck, Hercules barreled into the record books after the passing of yet another English Mastiff who weighed 296 pounds. The distinction for the tallest dog goes to Giant George, a blue Great Dane standing at 43 inches.

Stewie

There have been some pretty big kitties too! The longest cat award is currently held by Stewie of Nevada, a 48.5 inch long Maine Coon. The largest cat on record weighed in at over 46 pounds: dearly departed Himmey, with a 15 inch neck, a 33 inch waist, and 38 inches from nose to tail.

If you have a tiny pet, they have big shoes to fill to break a world record too. Lengthwise, the tiniest dog on record is a Chihuahua named Heaven Sent Brandy who measures a staggering 6 inches from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail tip. The lightest dog record is yet another Chihuahua named Ducky, weighing in at 1.4 pounds.

The smallest cat on record is Mr. Peebles from Illinois, weighing in at about 3 pounds, while Tinker Toy, a Himalayan-Persian stands the shortest at 2.75 inches tall and 7.5 inches long. Amusingly, the smallest cat is larger than the smallest dog! Those poor tiny dogs probably suffer from small dog syndrome even if they are record holders!

Brett Lee

There are also records to chase for athletic dog owners—the fastest runner was Australian “wonder dog” Brett Lee, who covered a race distance of 563 yards in 28.88 seconds. The Guinness World Record Holder for the highest jump by a dog is held by Cinderella May, who cleared 68 inches in 2006. Not surprisingly, these record holders are both Greyhounds, a breed generally known as the fastest dog, with recorded sprint speeds of up to 45 miles per hour.

The most proficient swimmer is a Labrador mix named Umbra, who has dog-paddled over 600 miles of swim-time. Cats may not be big on athletic displays, but record seeking felines have sure found ways to make up for it. 28,899 ways in fact, which is the number of mice caught by Scotland’s prolific mouser Towser over her 24 year lifetime. (The figure was extrapolated by watching Towser do her thing for a number of days and computed mathematically.)

The oldest cat ever according to Guinness is Creme Puff, who lived an astounding 38 years and 3 days! Old timers in the dog world defer to the Australian Cattle Dog Bluey, who passed away at 29 years and 5 months. We love our pets so much, I’m sure we all wish they could live to such ripe old ages.

World record pets may wow the world by being the longest, fastest, tallest or oldest, but every pet is special in its own right. Love them dearly, treat them right, and give them lots of yummy CANIDAE TidNips treats – then your pet will know what it feels like to be an award winning animal. They’ll have the award of being YOUR beloved pet!

Read more articles by Suzanne Alicie