World`s longest cat dies in US

Los Angeles: Stewie, the world`s longest cat measuring more than 4 feet long from nose to tail, has died in the US succumbing to a year-long battle with cancer. 8-year-old Stewie, a Maine coon cat, died on Monday in Reno, Nevada, the cat`s owner Robin Hendrickson said.

Guinness World Records declared Stewie the record-holder in August 2010, measuring 48.5 inches from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail. In 2011, he added the record for having the longest tail. Stewie`s full name was Mymains Stewart Gilligan. Hendrickson bought him from a breeder in Hermiston, Oregon, in 2005. Stewie worked as a therapy cat to help people in medical care and also served as an ambassador for animal causes, Reno Gazette-Journal reported. Then the cancer struck. His medical bills totalled USD 11,000, and the community pitched in USD 6,700 to help pay them. Stewie`s last trip was to a cat show in Portland, Oregon, over the weekend of January 26, and Stewie was extremely friendly with strangers and animals he never met, Hendrickson said. "He was all about wanting to see them," Hendrickson said of the public who came to see him. "It was like he held on to go to Portland and, once he got back from Portland, he knew it was OK to go". In late 2011, Hendrickson noticed Stewie`s right eye was bulging. She took him to the emergency room veterinarian on Christmas Day in 2011. He was diagnosed with lymphosarcoma, a lymph cancer. Hendrickson took Stewie to chemotherapy and radiation treatment and he seemed to respond well. Then she took Stewie in for his three-month checkup in August, and the doctor found a tumour on his kidney. "It was very aggressive when it came back," Hendrickson said. PTI