Reported to BCIB - 1991 - Manly, Sydney, Australia
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Tabby and white
Pointed ears
Extreme domestic cat
This is a comment on an encounter I had with certainly the largest domestic cat I have ever seen in 47 years. I was on holiday in Australia in 1991, and went to a weights gym in Manly, a suburb of sydney on the north side of sydney harbour entrance. Sleeping in the window of the gym, on his own personal weights bench was "Felix the cat". Quite easily, by a large margin, the largest house cat, ever. He was an entire tom, unneutered, and was the only cat I've ever been cautious of touching/petting for fear of physical damage if he'd taken exception. I cannot stress enough this animal was not obese, and was far larger than any other I've encountered. I asked the gym owner about his history, and he advised that Felix was a feral, rescued as a kitten, and it was common knowledge locally that ferals grew to huge size. I had no tape measure with me, but his height at the shoulder was approx. 20 inches. The width of his skull between the ears was just over 4 inches. I know this dimension exactly, as the palm of my hand fitted between the inside edge of his ears, without touching them. This dimension on my current, average sized house cat, is just under two inches. As the australian ABC sites seem to suspect that giant ferals are behind a large number of sitings, Felix seems to me living proof that domestics can and do grow far larger than credited. It aqlso suggests a lot of researhers should get out of the house more, the evidence might be closer than you think! An appeal for details on the Oz websites might glean more info, as Felix must have been well known around the area.
Anecdotal report from a sister, resident extreme N Scotland of a friend of hers who had a Kellas cat on their farm. V large, impossible to house train. All dogs on the farm terrified of it. Eventually returned to wild of it's own accord.