Maine Coon with the longest tail died in a house fire

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This is a little, respectful reminder, as it is no longer news, about the very tragic story of Cygnus, the Maine Coon who held the Guinness World Record for the longest tail on a domestic cat. He lived with the then tallest domestic cat Acturus who was a Savannah cat. I think he was an F1 Savannah cat. But they lived in the same home with Lauren and Will Powers in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Cygnus's tail measured 44.6 cm or 17.58 inches.

Cygnus
Cygnus. Photo: Guinness World Records.

Their home caught fire on Sunday, November 12, 2017. Will and Lauren managed to escape but they both risked their lives, we are told, to find their cats before being forced to vacate the property. They left the doors and windows open hoping that their cats and two others, Yuki and Sirius, would find a way out.

Will and Lauren
Will and Lauren. Screenshot from YouTube video. The fire occurred about one month after this video was published on YouTube.

When the fire was put out, they searched for their beloved cats Cygnus and Acturus and found that they had passed away due to smoke inhalation in the basement. At the time they believed that the other two cats were alive, possibly. Both Cygnus and Acturus were adopted in 2015 and they were both very surprised that they lived with two record holders.

Such an enormously tragic story. It is perhaps the most tragic cat death by fire story ever although there have been fires in rescue centres which resulted in far more cat deaths so in terms of sheer numbers these are far more tragic but in terms of publicity the deaths of the two world record holders were a major blow to cat lovers.

I believe multi-cat homes should have to comply with enhanced fire safety regulations

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Location: Farmington Hills, MI, USA

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