- LONDON: It's official: Smokey the cat has roared her way into Guinness World Records having achieved the loudest purr by a domestic cat.
- Guinness said Thursday the gray-and-white tabby earned her place with record-setting 67.7 decibels.
In a video on the cat's website, the 12-year-old, ordinary-size feline purrs with a sound akin to the cooing of an angry dove. Smokey first rose to prominence in February, when her owner, Ruth Adams, ran a local competition for the most powerful purr.
A community college recorded the purr and submitted it to Guinness. Guinness says the loudest animal sounds are the low-frequency pulses made by blue whales and fin whales when they communicate with each other - sounds that reach 188 decibels. By comparison, a lawnmower is 90 decibels.