Edinburgh cat records world's loudest purr smashing current Guinness World record according to owners

Earlier this month Cambridgeshire cat Bella made it into the record books after producing a purr of 54.6 decibels – but an Edinburgh couple say their feline is the unofficial title holder.

An Edinburgh couple say their seven-year-old cat has broken the Guinness world record for the loudest purr – just days after an English cat made it into the history books.

Craig and Debbie Stephens from Portobello claim their cat Tiggy has smashed the record for the loudest purr by a living cat after they recorded their pet belting out a whopping 66.1 decibel purr. It comes after Craig watched Cambridgeshire cat Bella beat the previous record of 50 decibels on Good Morning Britain, with the 14-year-old feline recording 54.6 decibels under test conditions.

Craig and Debbie have since recorded Tiggy’s ‘tractor’ like purr using home recording equipment and sent the video to the Guinness world records, requesting that an adjudicator visits Tiggy so he can claim his title. Craig said when he saw the morning show featuring the world’s loudest cat he was immediately drawn to the programme because he was sure his Tiggy would not be out done.

Craig and Debbie Stephens from Portobello say their cat Tiggy has smashed the record for the loudest purr and have asked the Guinness world records to pay Tiggy a visit

Speaking to the Evening News, Craig said: “When I heard the wee cat doing it I thought I’m sure Tiggy is louder than that so we did a decibel test and it was louder. As soon as it shot up to 66.1 I thought wait a minute, I don’t think Tiggy is going to lose this fight.”

Craig and Debbie then contacted the Guinness world records to request a formal test. Craig said: “They’ve got to look at this – we have three cats in the house but Tiggy is like a motor car. He’s always had a very loud purr but we never thought anything of it. We used to have him in the bedroom with us but he would keep us up all night.

"It was like a tractor – really high volume. It was quite horrific so we have to keep him out of our bedroom at nights now otherwise we wouldn’t get any sleep – that’s how loud he is.” The team at Guinness world records has now been in contact with Craig and Debbie and said they have accepted their application to compete for the title.

Should Portobello cat Tiggy break the record under controlled conditions he will claim the title of having the loudest purr by a living cat, dethroning recent winner Bella. The title does not include cats that have since died with the all-time record being 67.8 decibels – a feat first recorded in 2011 by Northampton cat Smokey and later equalled by Torquay cat Merlin in 2015.