On Purring
One of the most rewarding aspects of living with a cat is hearing that contented purr. It’s a vibration that starts deep in the cat’s chest and spreads outward to fill your heart with joy. Two of my three cats (Pippin and Tigger) will purr readily. The third, Lapsang, requires specific conditions before he will begin to purr. Pippin and Tigger are both laid-back, friendly lap cats who will soak up any amount of hugs, strokes, and kisses, and even enjoy the attention. Lapsang, on the other hand, is high-strung and difficult at best. I’d like to blame this on his Siamese heritage, but I’ve owned enough other Siamese cats to know that their personalities vary with the cat.
So when we got home last night after a long weekend away, Tigger and Pippin greeted us with cheer and relief. Both cats wound around our legs and purred and received love happily. Lapsang, however, did not even emerge from the basement right away. Finally, I guess his curiosity got the better of him and he came up. He let me pet him and miaowed at me in an only-slightly grumpy way, but he didn’t purr. His main concern seemed to be that we let him outside as soon as possible.
That night when we went to bed, all three cats settled into their usual places. We fell asleep quickly. About three in the morning, I woke up to go to the bathroom. Tigger came with me, as he always does. When we got back into bed, he rumped up against my neck and sprawled partially across my pillow and immediately started purring. Normally he would wait for some strokes before purring, but this time I think he was so happy and relieved that we were home that he just couldn’t contain himself and the purrs just came roaring out. Of course, I started petting him and whispering sweet nothings to him and that only increased the purr. Finally I got tired and stopped petting him but he kept right on purring. His purr was so contagious that Pippin, across the bed on the other side of my husband’s legs, also started to purr. I waited for Lapsang to join in but he never did. He probably thought we were all idiots for making such a ruckus in the middle of the night when there was sleeping to be done.
The kitties finally stopped purring and we all fell asleep. But I’ll never forget how gratified I felt that they would give some extra purrs to let me know how much they missed us and how happy they were to be snuggled into bed with us to keep them warm.
