Merlin, a rescue kitty from Torquay, Devon (UK) is now officially world's loudest purrer!
The Guinness World Records just confirmed that Merlin has the loudest purr by a domestic cat, registered at 67.8 decibels which beats the previous record of 67.68 decibels set by Smokey the cat back in 2011.
The 13 year old tuxedo cat was adopted from an animal rescue center. The family adores his loud purr. "Occasionally when he's really loud I have to repeat myself. When you're watching films you have to turn the telly up… If he's eating he'll purr loudly. I can hear him when I'm drying my hair," Tracy Westwood said.
"If he's cleaning he gets louder and sometimes if the telephone rings I do get people asking me what's that noise in the background, I tell them it's the cat but I don't know if they believe me."
Merlin's purr is about as noisy as a conversation or an air conditioner and nearly as loud as a shower or a dishwasher according to Guinness World Records.
"It was amazing to see just how loud his purr was in person and, despite a couple of readings of Merlin's purr just under the current record, a bowl of tuna cat food proved to make all the difference and secure the record," GWR spokesman Jamie Clarke said.
Some local media previously came to visit Merlin and recorded his purr at around 100 decibels...
Guinness World Records was intrigued and came to verify it. They used a system to measure the purr and recorded Merlin's purr to be at 67.8 decibels. Here's a preview of Merlin's record-setting purr on Make You Laugh Out Loud 2.