British tabby has a purrrfect, but loud sound

A GRAY-AND-WHITE cat by the name of Smokey has cat-apulted to fame with purring so loud it has been recorded at a potentially record-setting 73 decibels. Northampton College in central England that measured the sound said on Wednesday the sound peaked at 16 times louder than that of the average cat. By some estimates, that is about as noisy as busy traffic, a hair dryer or a vacuum cleaner. The recording has been submitted to the Guinness World Records. The 12-year-old, feline first came to national attention last month when her owner, Ruth Adams, decided to run a local contest for the most powerful purr. That led ultimately to tabloid headlines like "Thundercat" and "Rumpuss."

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