Without any further ado, here are the biggest cats!
Back in January 2016, locals thought they spotted a bobcat or lynx prowling inside a San Jose home — but it was just a really huge cat named Spock. He’s a Maine coon, which is one of the largest breeds of any cat. The Guinness World Record for the longest domestic cat is now held by a 46″ Maine Coon named Ludo. This whopping Maine coon was photographed at a Kyrgyzstan cat show back in 2013.
Norwegian forest cat
In its native Norway, the Norwegian forest cat is well known as a skogkatt — which, not so surprisingly, translates to “forest cat”. This is an old breed that pops up in Norse mythology: Freya, who is the goddess of love, was believed to have traveled in a chariot drawn by skogkatts.
The average cat weighs approximately 6 to 8 pounds. The average ragdoll can get up to 19 pounds. First bred in California in the 1960s, the laid-back breed is renowned for going floppy when picked up — just like a ragdoll. It’s said that this is because Josephine, the Persian who mothered the first ragdolls, was in a bad car accident while pregnant (a tale as intriguing, and plausible, as any superhero origin story).
Savannahs are exotic, tall and lithe because they’re not actually 100 percent cat: they’re a hybrid of Felis catus (which is the domestic cat) and Leptailurus serval (which is the serval). You’re not allowed to import one into Australia, and you are especially not allowed to import one into Queensland because they’re even more devastating predators than regular cats.
Another hybrid cat, the chausie (“chow-see”) is a combination of a Felis catus and Felis chaus (the jungle cat, though they don’t actually live in jungles). The first chausies were more than likely bred in ancient Egypt, though the modern chausie only originated in the 1990s. They’re very sociable, statuesque cats said to have the bodies of Olympic athletes.
Siberian cats are truly a “hefty” breed that’s relatively new to Australia: they arrived here back in 2003 by way of the United States, though (as their name suggests) they originated in Russia, where they appear in many centuries-old fairy tales and children’s books. Sociable and quite smart, they’re described by enthusiasts as an especially dog-like breed of cat.
Internet natives will recognize the British shorthair as Happy Cat, subject of the famous “I can haz cheeseburger?” meme. (It’s also thought to be the subject of very “heavy breathing cat”.) The breed is described as “chubby-faced”, “distinctively chunky” and “sturdy” — code words for “large”.
The only thing that’s not large about American bobtails is their famously short tails. This uncommon breed is descended from feral cats, said to be bred from a stray named Yodi who was taken in by an Arizona couple way back in the 1960s. According to the Cat Fanciers Association, they are a very muscular and deceptively heavy cat, reaching more than 7kg.