FARMINGTON HILLS, MI - The tallest living domestic cat in the entire world resides in Michigan and we’re not kitten around when we say that. Fenrir is featured in the 2023 Guinness Book of World Records which just came out in stores and online.
The Savannah cat measured a whopping 47.83 cm (18.83 in) in January 2021 when Guinness confirmed his height and even though he is a descendant of a wild feline, Fenrir is still tall for his breed, standing two inches taller than average-sized Savannah cats.
Fenrir belongs to Board-certified family physician and HIV specialist Dr. Will Powers of Farmington Hills, who also specializes in the care of the LGBTQ population. Fenrir is actually a therapy cat at the doctor’s office helping calm and ease HIV patients.
“He wanders around the office receiving pets from people, snoozing on exam room tables, and begging for treats,” Dr. Powers proudly told Guinness of his record cat.
“He will see patients with me, following me room to room until he starts to tire out, then he’ll usually stay in one room and curl up on a chair somewhere and snooze until lunchtime. He never misses lunchtime ever!”
Records run wild with Dr. Powers. One of his other cats, Altair Cygnus Powers, is also the current Guinness World Records holder of the longest tail on a living domestic cat. The tail measures 40.83 cm (16.07 in).
Powers’ previous cat, Arcturus Aldebaran Powers, is the current Guinness World Records holder for the tallest cat ever. Arcturus, who was the brother of Fenrir, sadly died in a house fire in November 2017. Powers’ home was destroyed and he nearly died trying to save Arcturus and the other two family cats, Cygnus, brother of Altair, who holds the record for longest tail ever on a domestic cat, along with Sirius, who also died.
“I did everything I could. I tried to put it out. I called 9-1-1. I searched the house for them for as long as I could,” Powers emotionally recalls. “I was in a room so filled of smoke that I could not see anymore. I was feeling around for them. I passed out, I hit the ground. I realized when I woke back up if I didn’t get out, I was gonna die. I opened every window and door I could find to give them escape paths. EMS dragged me out of there. The house burned to the foundation.”
Powers says it took him a long time to recover mentally after losing his record cats and his house. His marriage also ended not long after. It has been his love for his newly adopted cats that’s helped him recover over the last few years.
“I was heartbroken. I don’t really have words to describe what that was like, but I wasn’t well for a long time. I didn’t work for a long time, but eventually I started to get better and I missed having cats. Now I have six. They make my life well. They made me get well. They gave me a reason to climb out of that hole.”
Dr. Powers says he’s a proud “crazy cat dad” and likes taking his new world record holder out in public and enjoys it when Fenrir turns heads because of his size.
“Sometimes people see him and think he’s a small panther, a puma, or an ocelot. This can actually scare people and they back away from him in fear, but once I explain that he’s a therapy cat and very friendly, people are thrilled to walk up to him.”
Dr. Powers, who used to be the President of the Ferndale Cat Shelter, says he uses Fenrir to help bring awareness to adopting shelter cats. Like his previous record holding cats and now his new ones, he plans to volunteer them for fundraiser events.
“I’m open to any particular cat shelter utilizing my cats for their own benefit,” he told MLive. “I would welcome any shelter wanting to do an event with one of them to raise funds. I look forward to all the good that Fenrir and Altair can do with their records.”
You can follow Michigan’s world record cats as they have their own Instagram page.
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