Hi, I’m Nurse Kerri and this is my first time writing a blog! I thought I would share with you some amazing feats accomplished by our animal companions!
At first I wasn’t too sure which way to go with this – the standard Tallest Dog (Zeus a Great Dane, USA, 1.18m), Longest Cat (Mymains Stewart Gilligan aka Stewie, Maine Coon, USA, 123cm) but I decided to try and find some of the more unusual, quirky things our pets are known for. So please sit back and enjoy a light hearted read about the things a furry and feathered friends can do.
So let’s start with one of our pocket pets – the guinea pig. Firstly did you know that guinea pigs are not from Guinea, New Guinea or even Papa New Guinea but from South America and are not even related to pigs at all but are a species of rodent. Also Guinea pigs can run from approximately 3hours AFTER birth but are not very agile which makes this record even more incredible. “Truffles” is the name of the Guinea Pig that has the world record for the longest jump – 48cm!!
As I was saying, Guinea Pigs can run nearly from the time they are born and as they are considered prey animals (meaning they are hunted for food by carnivores) it is not surprising that they can run from a very early age and very quickly. One Guinea Pig called Flash even has a world record for a 10 meter dash – 8.81 seconds!! Considering the size of a Guinea Pig, Flash is a very suitable name. An Australian Guinea Pig also holds a world record – for the largest litter. An average litter size is 2-4 pups but a Guinea Pig called Casperina birthed 9 pups all of which survived (there are other Guinea Pigs who have had larger litters but not all survived). This record, from my research has been held since 1992!!
Next in our journey of the quirky things our pets are known for – takes us back to the more familiar canine. Paralleling with Casperina is Shadow, the Neapolitan Mastiff that made the Australian record books when she gave birth to 21 puppies! (No thanks say all the mums! hehe). But would you believe it that is not a world record. That honour belongs to another Neapolitan Mastiff called Tia, from the UK who had a whopping 24 pups. (That is a definite no from all the mums again). It reminds me of last week when we had the beautiful Jane in for a caesarean – giving birth to 9 little golden retriever pups (you can see some pictures of the proud mum and pups on our Facebook page).
Thinking of Jane the Golden Retriever made me think of another Golden Retriever who has the honour of being a world record holder for the number of regulation sized tennis balls held in their mouth. And would you believe it, the record was actually beaten this year! The old record was set by Golden Retriever Augie (who held the title for 5 tennis balls since 2003) but the new record goes to Golden Retriever Finlay who can hold 6 tennis balls in his mouth. Phew that is a mouthful but doesn’t he look happy and proud!
Moving to the other more familiar pet is our feline friends. Not everyone is a cat lover but they can bring such joy to our lives. From being a bit of acrobatic clown, to our snuggly hot water bottles at night, to chatty companions there is a breed that will suit nearly every human personality. We love to watch a feline friends do all sorts of things. This is proven by a world record – The most Instagram followers for a cat is Nala_cat with 4, 362,519 followers as of 13 May 2020.
From our feline friends we progress to our feathered friends. If you ask Nurse Emmy or Doctor Garreth they will tell you all you need to know about looking after our feathered companions. Some will be your companions for decades – like parrots. The average life span can be from 15 – 60 years, depending on the breed of parrot say cockatiel versus the galah. Actually the World Guinness Record for the oldest bird goes to an Aussie bird living abroad, a Major Mitchell Cockatoo living in the Brookfield Zoo in the US reached a record breaking 82 years and 89 days. Another parrot a Macaw called Skipper has the world record for the most amounts of rings placed on a target in one minute (19 by the way). So we have mentioned the oldest, one of the smartest and now to one of the most talkative – the Budgerigar. One little budgie called Puck learnt a whopping 1728 words. Imagine those conversations.
With everything happening in the world today, I am glad that people have their furry, feathered and scaled friends to keep them company. In fact Australians hold a Guinness World Record of their own – the country with the highest rate of pet ownership per household, as of 2010. 60% of households own at least one pet with 83% of the population having had a pet at some stage of their life. We definitely love our pets and they love us too! The last world breaking record (stated in Guinness World Records but unverified) I will share with you today is that of love. Jimpa, a Labrador cross travelled from a farm in Nyabing, Western Australia to his old home in Pimpinio, Victoria. Without a doubt there are other stories of our pets finding us when lost in this vast world of ours and it always warms my heart, gives me hope and always, always brings a tear to my eye when we are reunited with pets who have moved heaven and earth to be back with us.
Our pets enrich our lives so much! I leave you with a picture of my daughter and her best friend Boris!
