Stewie

Mymains Stewart Gilligan — known to everyone simply as Stewie — was a grey tabby Maine Coon from Reno, Nevada, who entered the record books as the longest domestic cat ever measured. In 2010 Guinness World Records certified him at 48.5 inches (123 cm) from the tip of his nose to the end of his outstretched tail, a little over four feet of cat.

Stewie's enormous length was entirely in keeping with his breed. Maine Coons are the gentle giants of the cat world, and Stewie matched the reputation in temperament as well as size: his owners described him as extraordinarily calm and sociable. He worked as a certified therapy animal, visiting a local senior centre where residents delighted in the novelty of a cat almost as long as a person is tall.

Stewie died of cancer in early 2013, aged eight. He had also been recognised for having one of the longest tails of any domestic cat. His record for overall length was later surpassed by another Maine Coon, Barivel, but Stewie remains one of the best-loved record-holders — remembered less for the tape measure than for his sweetness with the elderly people he visited.