Weird Feline Facts: Real or Rumor?

The other day a friend sent me an email with the subject line "Strange Information about Cats". Of course this piqued my interest, and I just had to take a peek to learn whether there was anything new and exciting about our furry feline friends. And while "curiosity" of course, connected with cats has an ominous ring to it, I braved the fable about cats having nine lives, and began reading some of the fascinating "facts" shared in her email. So without further amew, here are some of the more recent additions to some of the already well established kitty "strange information" which circulates widely on the Internet. Who knows what may really be true or fantasy, however. But even if some of them are fictitious, it still makes for some fascinating reading. After all passionate cat lovers who may be playing a game of Feline Trivia with "in the know" feline friends never know when these items may come in handy. According to the Guinness World Records, "The longest cat in the world" title now belongs to a Maine Coon named Verismo's Leonetti Reserve Red, (aka Leo) who measures 48 inches from nose to tail and tips the scales at a rather hefty 35 pounds. The expression "Get along Little Doggie" came to mind as I was writing this, but that may have been due to an excessive amount of coffee I consumed this morning! Mr. Peebles On the other paw, as of 1997 the shortest domestic cat listed was a male blue point Himalayan named Tinker Toy. He was only 7.5 inches long and 2.75 inches tall. However in doing more research about this, I discovered that according to the Guinness World Records, a new -comer has challenged that title, and is now bestowed upon a kitty names Mr. Peebles, who is six and a half inches tall, and weighs 2.8 pounds. He lives at a vet clinic in Illinois, and is a "wormy runt" saved by a Good Samaritan. In Scotland there resided a cat named Towser who lived at the Glenturret whiskey Distiller distillery who caught 28,899 mice in 20 years. Now I want to know how the owner of that cat arrived at that number. I wonder if she left notches on a scratching post each time she captured one of these little rodents. But nevertheless a rather prestigious predator, don't you think? Towser had a statue erected at the site of the distillery in her honor. Ellie, a brown and black Maine Coon set the record for a cat sporting the longest whisker. It measured 6.5 inches in length as of February 15, 2004. She lives in Woodland Hills, California and belongs to Sheri and Mitchell Rutherford. That had to tickle the Rutherfords when Ellie snuggled under the covers with them. Cats really do have an amazing way of finding their way home when separated from their family. In the United States, a Persian walked almost 1,500 miles in a little over a year to return to her owners. And last but not least, still holding onto the title of the "The Cat that Lived the Longest" continues to remain a tabby cat named "Puss", from Devon, England, who belonged to Mrs. T. Howay. Sadly, Puss passed away one day after her birthday, at the ripe old age of 36 years-of-age, in 1939. Feel free to leave a comment to add any other unusual kitty items of interest that you think worth mentioning.