Not Just Any Old Purr

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

I was sitting at my computer the other day, when I heard a most unusual sound. It took me a while to work out what it was, but eventually located the sound : Theo purring.

Theo adores my teenage son, and yesterday he was rubbing his head ecstatically over 'his boy' and purring- and when I say purring he was really giving it some welly, I thought it was traffic outside! It was odd because Theo doesn't purr. Well he does, but it's a silent rumble, a purr that can be felt rather than heard. He's always been that way, rubbing his chin you can feel an appreciative vibration, but I've never heard him purr out loud like that before!

The lad assures me that Theo purring aloud isn't a new thing, that he's done it heaps of times before... just not for me, ever. It's funny how cats have preferences. Indigo now, Indie is 'my' cat and she doesn't have the time of day for the teenager at all. Theo, though, has always adored him even as a tiny kitten, follows him around like a dog, winds round ankles and now apparently purrs for him too. Huh!

I don't really mind- it's quite sweet. Theo sleeps on my bed, but when the lad had proper flu (swine flu, as it happens)  a couple summers ago (as did I, at the same time) Theo insisted on sleeping under the teen's bed until he was better. He's not done that before and he hasn't done it since, but when the lad was really poorly, Theo wanted to be there.

It was very touching, and an illustration I think of the complex and loving relationship children and animals can have. Theo likes me well enough, I'm sure, but he saves his best purr for his boy.