Pussy galore

Littered in the feline section of the Guinness World Records 2012 edition, which hit shelves last week, is a new category—but not a new record holder. Reno’s trophy, Stewie the Maine Coon, already the titleholder for the longest domestic house cat stretching in at 48.5 inches, now also lays claim to the longest tail on a domestic cat at 16.34 inches.

Robin Hendrickson, 6-year-old Stewie’s proud owner, says she didn’t know her black and silver coated kitty would one day grow into the double world record holder he is today. When she first brought him home, along with his brother Odin, he was no larger than his sibling.

The differences didn’t become obvious until both cats started competing in shows. While Stewie seemed to relish in the primping and pampering lifestyle of a show cat, Odin shied away.

“His brother just kinda told me he didn’t like it,” says Hendrickson. “And so he quit showing, and Stewie continued on.”

Size matters

It was at these cat shows where Hendrickson first began to realize that Stewie was spectacularly lengthy—even for his breed, which is known as the “gentle giants” of the cat world.

“We would go to shows and the common carrying position into the ring is a stretched out body, because number one, it keeps their fur nicer, and number two, it actually relaxes them,” says Hendrickson. “As I’d carry him stretched out, people would just gasp and say, ‘Oh my god is that a cat? That’s the longest cat I’ve ever seen!’”

Hendrickson decided to look into the current record holder, and discovered that it belonged to another Maine Coon who reached 48 inches from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail. The length didn’t seem that out of reach for her own feline, so Hendrickson took out the measuring tape.

The first time around, Stewie was about an inch short of beating the record. By the following year, when Hendrickson tried again—Maine Coons are a notoriously slow growing breed—he reached a little closer, which told her that he was still growing. The third time was the charm for Stewie. When he was measured at 6 years old, he passed the 2002 holder by half an inch.

“We measured him on August 28th of last year, and when we got him at 48.5 inches, I was just shocked,” says Hendrickson. “He surpassed what was the previous all-time record. And he is actually now the only cat in the world to have a double world record distinction with the tail as well.”

What inspired her to go for the tail record with Stewie this year? “I just figured, well you know, what can he do next?”

He may be a double record holder, but otherwise Hendrickson says he’s just an ordinary cat. While one might expect a pet of Stewie’s size to eat the cupboards bare, shed enough hair to knit a dozen sweaters, and stink up the litter box to high heaven, Hendrickson insists this is not the case. Stewie eats the same amount of Purina One kibble she feeds to the other four household cats—three of which are also Maine Coons.

“[Stewie] is low maintenance,” says Hendrickson. “His brother’s coat gets much more thick and tangled—[Odin] walks around at least 10 months out of the year in a lion cut, because I have to shave him.”

Brothers Stewie and Odin may differ in size and coats, but they share a common theme in their namesakes. Hendrickson named the boys after her two favorite cartoon TV programs. Odin, full name O’Diddly Odin, is in tribute to religious fanatic Ned Flanders from The Simpsons. And Stewie, whose full name is Stewart Gilligan, is taken from Stewart Gilligan Griffin, the malicious baby on Family Guy.

“Because when he was a kitten he was always under my feet and trying to kill me,” says Hendrickson. “I was his Lois. But he was less evil.”

Cat calls

Stewie the cat isn’t evil. With his mellow temperament, he has a charitable hobby aside from breaking world records; he’s a hospital therapy cat. Hendrickson decided to get Stewie certified for the program after he broke his first world record.

“The one thing that actually inspired me was when an article came out in the paper last year beforehand that talked about how [Stewie] was getting measured for his record at a cat show,” says Hendrickson. “This little boy in Elko, who was severely autistic, had been carrying the newspaper clipping around for a week. His parents brought him to the show, told me the story, and we got him sat down in a chair. I put Stewie in his lap and he just started nuzzling him and licking his face. When it was done, the boy looked up at me, looked me in the eye, and said thank you. That’s when I decided Stewie had to be a therapy cat.”

This Halloween weekend, Stewie will show at the annual cat show at the Grand Sierra Resort put on by the Silver Cats Club. The nonprofit organization, of which Hendrickson is treasurer, donates all its proceeds from the show—which last year featured more than 185 cats from all over the globe—to feline welfare organizations such as Feline Rescue of Northern Nevada, ASPCA and the Humane Society.

Stewie will be onsite this year signing “pawagraphs”—thanks to a personalized stamp of his foot made for just such occasions. He’ll also be defending his title as Supreme Grand Champion Alter, the highest honor he can acquire for his registered association which ranks from champion, to grand champion, to double grand, then triple grand, then quad grand, and finally supreme grand. The judging is based on those truest to their particular breed standards, and Maine Coons have a long history of doing well in cat shows. A Maine Coon by the name of Cosey won an early cat show back in 1895.

With so many honors under his furry belt, one could definitely say Stewie the cat has lived at least one of his nine lives to the fullest. But has all the fame gone to his head?

“He’s a super star, and he knows it. He’s not cocky, he just knows he’s special,” says Hendrickson. “Even if he didn’t have the world record, and he was just a certified therapy cat, he’d still be super special.”