Guinness World Records announces loudest purring cat
The loudest purr by a domestic cat (living) was awarded to a 14-year-old moggie cat from the United Kingdom
Bella held by owner Nicole, Adjudicator Dave, and Polina, WHISKAS EU Brand Manager.
Guinness World Records announced that Bella, a 14-year-old moggie cat from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, has been named the loudest purr by a domestic cat (living). According to Guinness, her purr registered at 54.59 decibels, a sound similar to the sound of a kettle boiling and similar to the sound of a washing machine.
“She purrs all day long! If there’s food around, or cuddles, she always purrs,” shared Nicole Spink, Bella’s owner, in an organizational release.1 “Also when watching TV – she likes to be loud with television. My late husband used to always moan about the sound of her purr blocking the sound of the TV in the evenings.”
Bella’s family also suspected she had the loudest purr. One day while looking through the Guinness World Records book, they decided to test their theory so they downloaded an app on their phone to record and measure Bella’s purr. However, in order to be named the loudest purr, they needed a sound engineer.
The day of the test, Spink fed Bella her favorite food, WHISKAS to help make sure that she was not shy for the test. Then, the record-breaking purr was recorded and measured by independent specialist sound engineers, and approved by Dave Wilson, a Guinness World Records official Adjudicator. The meter used to measure the purr was kept at one meter away from Bella and one meter from the ground.
“I used to always read the Guinness World Records book, I always got it as a present every Christmas, and I do the same with my kids,” expressed Spink, “I think the record certificate is going to have a very prominent place in the house. We’ll need to decide which kid’s photos to take down first…”
Although Bella officially holds this record for loudest living cat, the loudest purr ever by a domestic cat belongs to 2 other United Kingdom cats, Smokey and Merlin. Smokey’s noise level was recorded at 67.8 dB, 13.21 dBs louder than Bella’s. Then 4 years later, Merlin also came out with the same dBs as Smokey, making them coholders.1
Reference
'My cat purrs louder than the TV': Noisy Bella claims loudest purr record. News release. Guinness World Records. October 17, 2023. Accessed November 3, 2023. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2023/10/my-cat-purrs-louder-than-the-tv-noisy-bella-claims-loudest-purr-record-759482
