Guinness World Record Day: Park City’s bid for the Loudest Cat’s Meow

Kushka the cat. Photo: Liam Snihurowych

 PARK CITY, Utah — Kushka the cat is ‘roughly’ three years old, Liam Snihurowych is 16 years old, and today, on Guinness World Book of Records Day, the pair are a little closer to getting their names in that illustrious literature. The record for the Loudest Meow by a Domestic House Cat is currently held by a cat named Yum Yum. Yum Yum achieved that notoriety three years ago at “an impressive,” Snyhowruich said, 80 Decibles.

Well, he and his Oriental Shorthair breed have something to say about that, something loud. Kushka, and her brother Ivan, came to Park City from Moscow (her name means “cat” in Russian), and Kristi, Liam’s mom, can prove it. You see, pets need passports to, and the kitty siblings came with all of their “i”s dotted and “t”s crossed. That’s also how specific the powers that be at the Guinness World Book of Records are. So, it’s understandable that Liam has been pursuing this goal for almost a year and it’s going to take a little longer. He’s in a slight holding pattern as to exactly how they will attempt this and when the official adjudicator will observe the required 4K-filmed videoed meow.

That’s all right with Liam, and with Kushka, that just gives them more time to practice. She’s already naturally loud, that’s not the issue. Cat owners will recognize that making Kushka meow on demand is the real issue. Practice consists of training her to react to little treats by meowing, and it’s going very well.

“She has always been naturally loud, same as her brother, but more so her, even louder as she’s matured,” Liam told TownLift. “We were initially joking when, just in our family we called her a “Guinness World Record Holder” but here we are. After we looked up the record we felt like she would definitely be able to beat it.”

First he downloaded an iPhone app called Decibel X off of the app store made to measure sound decibels, and according to the app she could easily hit between 85 – 95dB 10/10 times. Although this was exciting, he knew that it had to be official, so he ordered a real, professional decibel meter off of Amazon. Once again, she was able to hit those high numbers, no problem, unofficially beating the current world record at 80dB.

In terms of getting the record official, part of the requirements include that they are at a veterinarian’s office. The surprised slash supportive vet that Kristi and Liam are working with is Dr. Nico Kaminow with White Veterinary Hospital.

Liam is happy to jump through hoops with all the requirements and all the while, he gives credit where credit is due to simply, as he said, “Do our best to make our feline friend an Official Guinness World Record Holder with this strange and super talent of hers.”

This dynamic duo is setting out to show the world that Park City isn’t only the cat’s meow, but also has the Cat’s Meow.