A Maine Coon Cat in Australia May Be the World's Longest Feline

Meet Omar, a fluffy Maine Coon who lives in Melbourne, Australia. Until recently, Omar was just an ordinary—albeit massive—domestic feline who enjoyed eating raw kangaroo meat, lounging around his house, and cuddling with his owner, Stephanie Hirst. Now, he’s in the running to receive a Guinness World Record for being the world's longest domestic cat.

As The Telegraph reports, Omar weighs nearly 31 pounds, and is nearly 4 feet long. (To put this fact into perspective, most cats weigh anywhere from 8 to 10 pounds, and Maine Coons—known as one of the largest cat breeds—typically tip the scales anywhere from 9 to 18 pounds.) In early May, Hirst created an Instagram account for Omar, and the giant kitty became an overnight social media sensation when the popular Cats of Instagram account shared one of her posts.

Omar quickly racked up thousands of Instagram followers, and Guinness World Records contacted Hirst to inform her that her pet may be the world’s longest cat. Hirst and her partner, Rowan Lawrence, had already suspected that Omar wasn’t your average Maine Coon: "We thought he might be (the longest cat in the world) but we hadn't done anything about it because he might not be fully grown yet," Hirst told The Herald Sun.

Hirst broke out the tape measure, and noted that her pet is about an inch longer than the current record holder, a Maine Coon named Ludo. Ludo lives in the UK, and is about 46 inches long. In comparison, Omar is about 47 inches long.

Hirst plans to submit Omar’s measurements to Guinness for verification, but she’s sure he’s a shoo-in for a world record. Even if the Australian kitty does end up dethroning Ludo, he’s still not the longest domestic cat ever: That honor goes to Mymains Stewart Gilligan, or “Stewie,” a now-deceased Maine Coon who was over 4 feet from nose to tail.

[h/t The Telegraph]