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 occasionally breaches etiquette in the litter box department). She's always grooming herself. 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.
 

Jan/10
Purrecious is not a cuddly, lap cat in her foster home but she does love attention. She needs to be the one to come to you though. If you go to her, she will coyly run away and then turn around and come back for pets. She's a flirt! She still loves the other cats and values their company. It's as though other cats have always figured more prominently in her life than people. She's always going up to them and giving them head butts. She's still very playful. She loves her toys and she enjoys a solitary game of Hide and Seek. She's content in her foster home and they find her easy to live with.
 
 
 
 

Feb 26/10
We have a lead on a real forever home for Purrecious. Foster Mom is bringing the silly little crooner to the shelter on Sunday. The lady who adopted Mr. Tibbs (who is also FIV+) is interested in her. She would make a lovely companion because she loves everyone. She doesn't want to be cuddled but she likes to be around. Her accidents are infrequent and always in the same place on the hard floor so they're easy enough to deal with. Our fingers are crossed. If another hard-to-place cat finds a forever home, it makes room for one more hard-to-place cat in foster or shelter care.

Feb 28/10
Unfortunately, Purrecious will not be going home today. Mr. Tibbs has started coming down with a cold so Purrecious will stay in her foster home and avoid introducing any new bugs to either cat's immunocompromised system. Our fingers are crossed that Mr Tibbs will get better and he'll still want a friend in the next while. At least there's no great feeling of disappointment because Purrecious is quite content in her foster home.

May/10
The adoption inquiry about Purrecious never did amount to anything. That happens a lot. But Purrecious is happy in her foster home. She's a gregarious girl. Whenever there are visitors to the house, she comes to see who's arrived. She likes to be in the middle of things, but on her own terms. She doesn't seek out a lap nor come to visitors for pets, she just likes to wander around, mingling. She still loves the other cats and dogs in her foster home. (Foster Mom takes on special-needs cases and gives them a home life in their final days.) Purrecious is always rubbing up against the other animals in greeting, which is received with varying degrees of enthusiasm. But she never takes offence if her greeting is not returned, she just moves on to mingle elsewhere. She's a funny mix of sociability and independence.

Purrecious moves comfortably among the other animals in her foster home. She loves them all.

Nov/10
Foster Mom sent an update on Purrecious. "She is the same strange little - pardon me, BIG - girl. She loves everyone. She rubs up against everyone - all the cats (whether they like her or not), the dogs, her foster dad.... She has no concerns about walking under the dog's belly. However, if you reach out to pet her she darts off. She hates being touched. She still wheezes a lot and throws up quite often; I think her throat is injured. She has a lovely coat and keeps it that way herself. She grooms herself continually. It's not stress grooming, it's personal grooming. She likes herself looking nice."
So that's Purrecious: at ease among other animals, independent of people, and taking pride in her appearance.

April/11
Purrecious has lost some weight and seems to be having a little more trouble breathing these days (she's always had some difficulty due to her damaged trachea). However, she's still up and about, active and eating. She's holding her own.

June 28/11
Purrecious came to the shelter to stay when her foster mom had to leave town for a while. True to her nature, she settled in as serenely as if she'd never been gone. She made friends with the other cats and seemed quite satisfied with her new situation. She's looking a bit more threadbare these days but that's to be expected among the special-needs cats. Despite that, she's as active and happy as ever. Though she can be an independent girl, the endearing, cooing purr still erupts from her when she's given some pets.

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