Murphy the cat is already “average dog size”, weighing 11kg and measuring 104cm from nose to tail.
He’s one step away from breaking the record for the world’s largest feline, and at only one year old, he still has some room to grow.
Murphy is a master raccoon cat, one of the oldest natural breeds in North America, known for its thick, long coat.
His owner, Sareeta Brewin, 46, said people often mistake him for a dog, or even a lion, and often tag her in Worcestershire big cat sighting posts.
She spends a fortune feeding him as he eats £60 worth of dry food a month and has to buy him an oversized litter box to accommodate his size.
Sareeta, from Worcester, said she got Murphy in November when he was about 13 or 14 weeks old, the same age as her cats.
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“It’s as big as we have a cat and a mouse. She looks tiny compared to him,” she added. Sareeta also has two Korean rescue dogs, and Muphy is even bigger than them.
“The Maine Coon will grow to be about three years old, so who knows how old Murphy will be, he’s already the size of a normal dog,” she said.
“I didn’t know what I expected from him, I knew he was going to be big but I didn’t expect him to be this big.
“People do sometimes mistake him for a dog and they make comments about the feral cat. Others say ‘hell, is that a lion? “He looks like a feline.”
Last Christmas, Murphy tossed through dozens of festive lights and iPhone cables at home, costing them a total of £300 to replace.
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“We call him Thor because he’s very handsome, but he’s dark,” said Sareeta, product manager for medical devices.
“He does eat a lot. He uses up a £20 3kg bag of biscuits a month. I’m glad he prefers dry biscuits as it’s too expensive for the meat.
“If it was wet food, it would be a fortune. We haven’t put up Christmas decorations this year.
“He chewed through 12 sets of lights last year and we had to buy reinforced cables around the house when he chewed through. We spent a fortune on them.
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“I even had to buy him a dog crate when I took him to the vet because he didn’t fit in a cat crate. He was like a cat and a dog. They were a lot like a dog and he would say hello to you , and will bring you his toys to play with.”
Sareete compared him to a husky, a breed known for its very good voice, which he said “could talk and communicate”.
The mum-of-three added: “He was still essentially a kitten and he ran around the house and spent half an hour like crazy.
“The dogs are freaked out by him, they don’t mind him. The kittens don’t mind him, they do play.”
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Sareeta said she will be watching his length extra closely in the coming years to see if he can break the record.
She added: “I’m sure we can get a few extra inches out of him, but I’ll be keeping an eye on him just in case. He’s tired of being delayed.”
Murphy has some work to do to beat world record-breaking cat Stewie from Nevada, USA, who is 123cm long.