World's biggest cat turns out to be camera shy

Stop the presses! We’ve found the newest contender for the world’s longest cat.

But as it turns out, Omar the Maine Coon cat from Melbourne, isn’t exactly loving his new-found fame, and has taken to hiding under his owner’s bed to escape the glare of the limelight.

Omar’s owner Stephy Hirst, appeared on Sunrise this morning, but the giant kitty refused to come out and play.

“Unfortunately he didn’t want to be on TV,” Stephy tells Sunrise, as a live shot shows Omar hiding from the camera crew.

“If Omar doesn’t want to do something there’s no arguing with him.”

The Australian house cat is three times the size of a normal feline and weighs a hefty 14kgs, so there’s no moving him if he doesn’t want to be moved.

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The three-year-old kitty has become an internet sensation after a photo of him was shared on the Cats of Instagram account. Then today he featured on the front page of the HeraldSun and Daily Telegraph newspapers, and was invited on Sunrise.

But it’s all a bit much for him, with host Samantha Armytage telling viewers “if you’re just joining us this morning, this is a live shot of Omar, who isn’t coping very well with being front page news today.”

Producers tried to save the segment by switching to footage filmed earlier, but Omar clearly wasn’t happy about being forced to smile for the camera and could be seen doing everything to escape his owner’s grasp before racing off the bed and hiding behind – and under – furniture.

Stephy and her partner Rowan, got Omar when he was just a normal sized kitten. “(Omar) was tiny when we got him but then he just started growing and was 10kg at one year old,” she told the Herald Sun.

A daily diet for Omar includes two scoops of kibble for breakfast, and raw kangaroo for dinner. And to combat the excessive amount of fur the giant cat sheds, Rowan has taken to using a vacuum cleaner on the cat!

“Usually people will see a photo if him and not believe that it’s true or ask if it’s been photoshopped,” Stephy told Sunrise.

She was contacted by Guinness World Records, who suggested her cat could be the longest in the world. The current record is held by a UK Maine Coon measuring 118.33 centimetres, but Stephy says she last measured Omar at about 120 centimetres.

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