Meet Queen Bella, the British house cat with the world's loudest purr
Bella's signature sound clocked in at 54.59 decibels — ‘the equivalent of, like, a kettle boiling’
When Nicole Spink and her family gather around the TV at night, they always have to crank up the volume. That's because their cat, Bella, purrs so loudly, it drowns everything else out.
The 14-year-old kitty, known to her family as Queen Bella, has claimed another crown. Guinness World Records has certified Bella's purr as the loudest of any living domestic cat.
"I'm so proud of her," Spink told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "She's always been such a lovely cat, and she deserves the claim to fame."
According to Guinness, Bella's record was confirmed at her Huntingdon, England, home by "independent specialist sound engineers," who recorded her using a sound level recorder held one metre from her mouth and one metre from the ground.
Her kitty motor clocked in at 54.59 decibels — "which is kind of the equivalent of, like, a kettle boiling noise," Spink said. "She's always been loud."
Deep, yet nasally
Spink describes Bella's signature sound as a "deep, almost, like, nasally purr."
When the cat purred over the phone for CBC Radio, she cycled between a gentle hum and a sputtering wheeze, punctuated with loud, roar-like peaks.
It's not always a welcome noise during TV time, but Bella's soothing soundtrack has brought many benefits to the Spink household.
"At night time, when she's asleep on my bed, she's like a giant white noise machine," Spink said.
"And I'm pretty sure she settled the children asleep when they were babies. They would sleep near her, and they'd be asleep listening to the cat purr."
Those children are now six and nine — old enough to brag about Bella's newfound fame.
They briefly hopped onto the call with their mom to express their immense pride for Queen Bella and explain how they have been telling all their friends, and even their teachers, about her record-setting feat.
"My kids are so excited," Spink said.
Loudest living, but not loudest ever
While Bella has secured the record for "loudest purr by a domestic cat (living)," the title for the loudest purr ever belongs to two other British cats.
The late Smokey of Northampton, U.K., was recorded purring at 67.8 decibels in 2011, which is 13.21 decibels louder than Bella. Four years later, Merlin, of Devon, U.K., matched Smokey's record.
But Spink isn't terribly worried about Bella being the greatest of all time.
"She's the best right now, and that'll do for us," she said.
Interview produced by Lisa Bryn Rundle
