Courtesy Photo/Helmi Flick Savannah Island Trouble,
an F2 Savannah cat from California, will be measured
at the Silver Cats Cat Show in Reno, Oct. 29 and 30,
in an attempt to set the Guinness Book of World
Records mark for Tallest Domestic Cat. Unofficial
measurements put Trouble at more than 18 inches
tall.
RENO — How about a tall order of Trouble?
Savannah Islands Trouble, a 3-year-old F2 Savannah cat, will visit the
Grand Sierra Resort Oct. 29 and 30 for the annual Silver Cats Cat show
where he will be measured in an attempt to set the Guinness Book of
World Records mark for Tallest Domestic Cat.
Trouble’s owner, Debby Maraspini, a cat breeder from Walnut Grove,
Calif., said she never expected the cat to be aiming for a world record.
In fact, the cat started its life with quite a bit of uncertainty.
Sold as a kitten, the family that bought Trouble brought him back to
Maraspini because he wasn’t fitting in at his new home. Since then,
Trouble has been Maraspini’s pet, roaming around her 2-acre property and
generally ruling the roost.
“He’s king of the hill but he makes sure the other cats eat before him,”
Maraspini said, “which is quite unusual for a cat.”
Trouble also likes to play with Maraspini’s much larger Labrador dog,
chasing it around and attacking its tail.
Two generations removed from native African Savannah cats, Trouble
weighs in at 25 pounds and unofficial measurements put him at between
18.5 and 19 inches tall, according to Robin Hendrickson, show organizer
for Silver Cats, a Reno-based club. The record for tallest domestic cat
was set in 2009 by an F1 Savannah cat named Scarlett’s Magic, also from
California, measuring just over 17 inches tall.
As an F2, Trouble is 25 percent African Serval. He is registered with
The International Cat Association (TICA) and regularly attends cat
shows. It was at a cat show about one year ago that Maraspini met
Hendrickson, who owns the Guinness record holder for world’s longest
cat, a Maine coon named Stewy, who measured four feet long.
Hendrickson said she has been eyeing Trouble for several years, since he
was measured for height on Labor Day weekend two years ago. She knew
then that Trouble wasn’t done growing and that one day he’d have a shot
to be the tallest ever.
Savannah
Cat Rescue
