Towser the mouser!

Did you know there is a Guinness world record for best mouser? Meet Towser the mouser, the current record holder for most mice killed!

Towser was a distillery cat, employed by the Glenturret distillery in Scotland. Like other brewery cats, she was tasked with rodent control, and according to the good folks at Guinness, she was the best who ever did it!

The Glenturret distillery is well known for their whisky, including one named the Famous Grouse, which according to ScotchWhisky.com is so popular it  even has it's own visitor experience for those who would like to tour the distillery. They even named a whisky after our heroine Towser in 2017 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her death. 

So what does whisky have to do with cats? Well, to make whisky, you need barley and all that barley is like a magnet for mice. The solution? Well cats, of course, and here is where Towser comes in! The long haired, calico beauty was employed from 1963 until her death in 1987, just 3 weeks shy of her 24th birthday. During her reign of terror on the vermin of Glenturret, a team for Guinness observed her in action and estimated her kill total at around 28,899 mice during her almost 24 years on the job! That is more than 3 per day!

According to the Guinness world records website, she would prowl the distillery at night and line up her victims in a row for inspection in the morning. In return for her services as mouser extraordinaire, she received a warm place to sleep, plenty of food, and reportedly even a few drops of whisky with her milk at night. (Although veterinarians do not recommend alcohol for cats!)

By 1987, when Towser passed, the practice of laying wet grain on the distillery floor to germinate or "floor malting" was replaced by other methods, which cut down on the attraction for mice, and thus the need for mousers like Towser, but there are still cats at the Glenturret distillery . Today they work more as ambassasors than as mousers, and you can visit them on the distillery tour! None of them has managed to break Towser's record though. In fact her direct successor, a cat named Amber was reportedly unable to catch a single mouse and actually ran way from them! Atlas Obscura reports that that was the beginning of an unlucky streak for mousers at Glenturret, with cats after Amber either disappearing or dying young, but that Glen II, on the job since 2017 might be turning around that streak. 

While Towser is no longer with us, her legacy remains in a way befitting a world record holder! A bronze statue honoring Towser stands at the Glenturret distillery. It was created by Scottish artist Evelyn Temple, nea Cheape in memory of Towser the Mouser with her date of birth 21 April 1963 and date of death 20 March 1987, and reads: "Towser the famous cat who lived in the still house Glenturret Distillery for almost 24 years. She caught 28,899 mice in her lifetime World Mousing Champion Guinness Book of Records" 

So, whether you are a whiskey lover or a cat lover (or both!), let's raise a toast to Towser, world champion mouser!