Purrfect! Cat breaks record for loudest purr

Purrrrfect! A cat named Bella has just broken the record for having the loudest known purr of any domestic living cat.

Bella is 14 years old and lives in Cambridgeshire with her owners.

An official representative from Guinness World Records went to meet Bella with a sound engineer, to test if her purr really was record breaking.

She achieved a purr of 54.59 decibels, that's about the same volume as the sound of a kettle boiling and not too far off from the sound of your washing machine.

Bella's owner, Nicole Spink, said she "couldn't be more thrilled".

"She has been our family's companion for many years - we love her to bits and are so proud of her achievement," said Ms Spink.

Dave Wilson, the official Guinness World Records adjudicator who observed Bella's record-breaking attempt, said: "It's always an exciting day when there is the potential for a new world record so we waited in anticipation to see whether Bella would be able to do it."

Bella is officially amazing

How did they measure Bella's purr?

Dave and the sound engineer put up special sound-proof fabric around Bella, that would help block out any noise from outside that could affect the result.

They then set up their special sound level meter which was kept one metre away from Bella and one metre above the ground.

During the recording Bella sat in her favourite cosy bed, and her owner gave her lots of strokes to get her purring.

If you cannot see the quiz on this page, click here.

Even though Bella broke the record for the loudest purr by a domestic cat (living), the record title for the loudest purr EVER by a domestic cat still belongs to two other cats, Smokey and Merlin.

Back in 2011, Smokey, owned by Lucinda Ruth Adams in Northampton, UK, was recorded purring at a phenomenal noise level of 67.8 dB, a full 13.21 louder than Bella.

Four years later, Merlin the cat owned by Tracy Westwood in Devon, UK - equalled Smokey's record and they are still co-holders to this day.