Purrecious was trusting and friendly from the very first day.
She has a permanent tilt to her head, but it causes her no distress. It's most noticeable in the photo where she's looking down at her food dish.

Purrecious came to us from another shelter that couldn't look after her and the first thing we learned is that she is aptly named. Give Purrecious a few strokes and she'll begin to purr in a vocalized style like the cooing of a pigeon. It's such a heartfelt and sustained purr that each purring breath ends with a wheeze and a little cough. Her purr is absolutely precious! She's only two or three years old and should be highly adoptable. But Precious has had a hard time physically. She arrived with her long, luxuriant white coat badly matted and with bald patches. She tested positive for FIV. She has a chronic respiratory problem that has been checked fully by vets. It doesn't cause her distress and it needs no treatment. But it accounts for her endearing purr-wheeze-cough routine. Lastly, she has a chronic head tilt due to an ear problem that has also been fully investigated by vets. Purrecious lives a full life and enjoys her life completely. But in a world where there aren't enough homes for all the perfect cats, a 'damaged' cat like Purrecious would be lucky to be chosen. Still, anyone who spends more than a few minutes getting to know her will see as we have that she is utterly gentle and endearing. She may steal someone's heart as she has stolen ours. Until then, we will be her family.

Turn up your sound to hear Purrecious's unique purr on her video below.

 

March 5/09
Our volunteer in charge of animal health noticed that something didn't seem right with Purrecious yesterday so she watched her for awhile. She seemed to be breathing heavily. She took Purrecious to the vet. Purrecious does have the beginnings of an upper respiratory infection (very common in shelter cats), but her heart and lungs seem fine. Yet she was having trouble breathing. So they took an x-ray. She has fluid around her lungs. So she's now on antibiotics and meds to reduce the fluid etc. The cause could be heart problems (we had a similar case in another cat once), or a serious virus, or a tumor (but a tumour was deemed unlikely). Anyway, she's still at the vet today. She'll probably go to a foster home to recover so she can be monitored more closely.

March 12/09
Purrecious had another x-ray yesterday to make sure things are getting better and they are indeed much better. In fact, she hasn't needed to go to a foster home. Improvement came quickly and has maintained. She seems quite content to patter around in the Boys' room. So why subject her to another change of environment! Yesterday's x-ray showed that the fluid around her lungs is decreasing so it must have been a virus that caused it. She has a chronic breathing problem anyway so it probably hit her harder. At least she's on the mend from this episode.

May/09
Purrecious is living in a foster home now. The vet concluded from examining her x-ray that part of her lung lobe had collapsed. The next x-ray showed improvement. However, Purrecious remains a fragile cat. At her foster home, she can be monitored day and night. If anything should happen, her foster mom can get her into emergency care. But she's doing well, there has been no recurrence of her symptoms. She's found herself a favourite spot, a cat perch next to a window downstairs. She's a quiet, undemanding guest and she's captured her foster mom's heart. We'd have trouble wresting her away from her foster mom now. She is such a sweet, ingenuous cat with her wheezy purr.

Sept/09
Purrecious's foster mom is quite happy to keep her until (or unless) she finds a forever home. She sent us an update on our funny, fluffy girl: "We call her 'The Crooner' because she 'sings' when she purrs (and my husband has a problem calling her Purrecious). She seems to love everyone's shoes. She can be skittish and, although she seems to like people, she gets nervous if you try to pet her too much. She's a very clean cat (at least usually). She's always grooming herself, (but she occasionally breaches etiquette in the litter box department). She loves the other cats and is always trying to rub up against them. She's an active girl and loves her little furry mice." Purrecious's foster mom enjoys having her around despite the occasional indiscretion.

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