MEET THE FAMILY CAT SO BIG PEOPLE MISTAKE HIM FOR A DOG

Murphy the Maine Coon weighs a whopping 11kg and measures 104cm from nose to tail – just a whisker away from a world record.

At only twelve months, the feline still has growing to do in his home in Worcester.

Owner Sareeta Brewin, 46, says she spends a fortune feeding him – with Murphy munching through £60 worth of dry food every month.

Not only that, but an extra-large litter tray is required to accommodate Murphy’s massive weight.

People often mistake him for larger animals, such as a dog or even joke that he’s a lion.

They also often tag Sareeta in posts of big cat sightings across Worcestershire.

‘Murphy is one now and we got him last November,’ says the mum of three.

‘He was about 13 or 14 weeks old and at that stage, he was the same size as our regular cat who’s only little.

‘It’s like we’ve got a cat and a mouse with the size of him. She looks so small compared to him.’

Maine Coons grow until they’re about three years old, so he’s due to get even bigger.

‘Who knows how big Murphy is going to get – he’s already the size of your average dog,’ said his owner.

Sareeta ‘didn’t know’ what to expect with Murphy.

‘I knew he’d be big but I didn’t expect him to be that big – now other cats look tiny compared to him,’ she says.

‘People do sometimes mistake him for a dog, they also make remarks about the wild cat on the loose.’

Last Christmas, Murphy chewed his way through dozens of festive lights and the family’s iPhone cables – which cost a total of £300 to replace.

Sareeta, a product manager in medical devices calls him Thor because he’s ‘very handsome but he is quite dim.’‘He does eat a fair bit.

‘He goes through a £20 3kg biscuit bag a month. I’m glad he prefers the dry biscuits as it would be so expensive for the meat.

‘If it was wet food it would be a fortune.

‘We haven’t put up our Christmas decorations this year yet.’

The massive cat chewed his way through 12 sets of lights last year, so the family had to buy reinforced cables around the house.

‘I’ve even had to buy a dog carrier for him when I take him to the vets because he won’t fit in a cat carrier,’ says Sareeta.

‘He is still essentially a kitten – he bombs around the house and has that mad half hour,’ she adds.

Dogs can get a bit ‘freaked out’ by him.

‘The little cat doesn’t mind him, they do play,’ says Sareeta.

She’s keeping an extra close eye on his length in the coming years to see if he can break the size record.

‘I’m sure we could get a few extra inches out of him but I’ll be keeping a close eye on him just in case,’ Sareeta says.

Murphy still has some catching up to do to beat world record-breaking cat Stewie from Nevada, USA, who measures more than 48 inches long.