Rescue Stories - Plush: A Rags to Riches Kitty

Hello, and Happy   ! We're back today with another Rescue Story we're sure you'll love. Today we're featuring our friend, Plush, from Life & Cats! Poor Plush went through a rough period, but his story has a very happy ending. Read how he went from being abandoned to being a beautiful show cat! Plush has a wonderful life and family now, and we're so happy for him! 

Lola

I call him my rags to riches kitty. He survived against the odds to thrive in the show hall. His story has made people cry. Please meet Magic of Purrs Purrcival Plush. We just call him Plush.

My favorite rescue, Another Chance Animal Rescue, named him Beau. Who knows what his name was originally. Plush is one of the abandoned. The cats left behind when their guardians’ lives fall apart, leaving the cats to suffer.

Some of these cats, like my PTSD cat Jeremy, are left outside to scratch out a living on the streets the best they can. If they are lucky someone will feel sorry for them and put out food.
Plush wasn’t so lucky. Someone left him locked in a foreclosed home. Alone. For months. It breaks my heart to think about what he must have gone through. 

He’s a Persian. Someone purchased him and must have loved him at one point. Did he wonder about what happened to his people? Did he worry about them? What did he think about while he was slowly starving to death?

Plush in a trap after being rescued

Yes. He really did nearly starve to death before he was rescued. That in and of itself is against the odds. We live in a fairly rural area and the animal control officers in many towns don’t take “cat calls.” But someone came to a call about Plush. Then the trapper for the municipal shelter could access the house and get him out.

I have a copy of his original intake paperwork. It said he weighed 1.5 pounds. The shelter doesn’t spay and neuter kittens until weigh 2 pounds. Plush was estimated to be 3-5 years old. A full-grown adult cat. 

The odds were in his favor again. In another part of the country he’d probably have been euthanized. Here, they called the rescue. He was fostered by a special volunteer who specialized in extreme cases. 

Plush in foster care.

Meanwhile, I had been looking at Persians on Petfinder every now and then. I’d call or write about the cats and there was always a reason I couldn’t have him. They wouldn’t adopt out of state. They wouldn’t adopt more than two hours away. The cat had to be in a one cat home. I had kids. Then Another Chance posted “Beau” on Facebook.

I called right away and begged to come see him after work. I went to meet him and of course, I fell in love. I don’t think he did. Persians are pretty laid back but I wonder if he was just depressed or wondering what was happening to him now? 

Plush walking on a leash

I had to name him Plush, it just fit. He fit in my furry family easily. I continued to baby him and he continued to get back to good health. Slowly he came to trust me. That fall I decided we were going to see what it would be like to go to a cat show. That’s when he got his fancy show cat name. 

He took to showing very well. He shows in the household pet (now Companion Cat World) division since he’s not show standard and I don’t have his paperwork. Having an activity to do together bonded us together. 

I didn’t know it the day I put him in his first ring cage, but I would find my passion, a new career as a cat groomer and cat writer, great friends, and another way to celebrate living life with cats along the way.

Plush in the show hall

Plush has now traveled all over the Northeast, from Maine to Maryland, New York to Ohio, where he showed in the CFA International Show last fall. He holds top titles of Regional Winner Supreme Grand Master in The International Cat Association, Master Grand Companion in the Cat Fanciers Federation, and in the Cat Fanciers Association he will be awarded his top title of Grand Household Pet of Distinction title this spring. We’re chasing a Regional Winner title there too.

Photo by Richard Chanan.

Along the way he learned leash and harness skills and as he wraps up his campaign in the show ring, he has a second career as a sort-of travel blogger for cats. You can check out his adventures by following his Instagram hashtag #plushthetravelingpersian. 

Plush in the ring with a judge

He loves hotel rooms, has a particular affinity for the chairs in the Red Roof Inns, and insists we watch his favorite hotel room only shows on TV (we don’t have a TV at home.)
I have a large furry family. It would be Treeno that I would describe as my soul cat, but Plush really is my best friend. I’ve never had a relationship with a cat quite like the one I have with him. 

If I let myself, I could feel hate for his previous pet parent for abandoning this beautiful boy to suffer and nearly starve to death, but I don’t. I do not understand the circumstances that brought them to that place. For my heart’s sake, I have to believe his people intended to go back for him and somehow could not do so. I’ll never know. It doesn’t really matter. Plush is thriving now. And he knows I’ll never leave him.

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Plush lives in Maine with his devoted human, HollyAnne, and his many fur-siblings. He has his own Instagram hashtag #plushthetravelingpersian if you want to follow his adventures.

Plush and his mom. Photo by Kim Dustin.

If you have a rescue story you'd like to share with us, please email us at LolaTheRescuedCat@gmail.com!