Woman watched her neighbor abandon their cat and then gave him a new life until he passed

Rolo being abandoned. Screenshot.

The first part of this story is all in the video which I found charming of course. What I really love about this video is this charming woman talking about the cat opposite, over the road who was abandoned by their owner. The cat's name is Rolo. He's quite masculine looking with quite a square face which indicates to me that he was neutered after puberty, relatively late in life. 

He's got that masculine appearance which I like in male cats. Sadly, a lot of male cats have a slightly feminised appearance because of neutering before puberty but that's a personal viewpoint and a different topic.

This woman observed Rolo over the road and saw the moment that he was abandoned, as her neighbours drove away in their car. His former owner even petted Rolo on the head before she disappeared into the sunset never to be seen again. Rolo waited patiently outside the home. He appears to have been and remained a mainly outdoor cat.

His owners never returned and the kindness in the woman who tells the story, was kindled by seeing Rolo alone and abandoned. Like a lot of good people she had to do something which was to firstly gain his trust by feeding him and then gain his trust some more by playing with him and then eventually adopting him, bringing him into her family. 

A family that was going to be better at caregiving than the previous one. She lives with a nice man as well who is good at making toys and is sensitive to her desire to help this cat. It was a good ending.

Rolo landed on his feet and was in a better home; all thanks to her, this charming whose name, I just discovered (at the end of the video) is Maria Montes. And I have searched out her social media channel: TikTok mariamontes862.

Second part of the story

Having found Maria's TikTok channel, I then discovered some shocking news; Rolo had passed away. He must have been fairly elderly when she rescued him from her neighbour's abandonment. I don't know how many years Rolo lived with Maria and her husband but it probably wasn't that long, certainly not a full life. But a great life with her and her husband. She is a cat lover and a gentle, kind woman. The world needs more of them.

"Thank you for the life you’ve given him. You’re an amazing person for helping him live the best life possible. Fly high sweet boy 💕💕💕" - Koda a commenter on the above video.

"Thank you so much!! And thank you for loving our sweet baby rolo ♥️♥️" - Maria

So many domestic cats so close together saddens me

I have mixed emotions about this video. We don't know where this is or in fact what this is but it must be some kind of shelter somewhere. And some people say that the domestic cat is solitary!! I think that you can see that the domestic cat is no longer essentially solitary because they put up with or adapt to this kind of forced social behaviour where they are crammed together in a small space. But they appear to be safe and cared for which is an improvement on being street cats.

They seem to be getting on pretty well but I would expect there to be some stresses and some fights. They are probably fairly content to be there because the alternative is to be on the street where they wouldn't be looked after. 

Domestic and feral cats accept this kind of unnatural situation if there is a food source. The benefit of the food source outweighs or masks the unnaturalness and unpleasantness (at least potentially) of being so close together. Crammed together actually. It saddens me. It is a symptom of human failure in their relationship with the domestic cat.

Screenshot.

They have nowhere to go for a bit of peace and quiet and to claim their own territory. Domestic cats are essentially territorial and, in this situation, they have to put that territorial attitude aside completely despite the fact that it is deeply embedded in their psyche.

Why do cats hate vacuum cleaners? Some cats love them!

The default situation is that domestic cats hate vacuum cleaners because they are noisy and a strange, dangerous creature roaming around the living room. 

The domestic cat does not understand vacuum cleaners. The worst thing about them is the noise. Most of them are noisy. 

But if you dig around the Internet even a little bit you will find that some domestic cats adore to be vacuum cleaned! They obviously get used to the noise while the experience of the vacuum cleaner against their fur and skin clearly beats any downside that they might experience with the noise. There'll be competing forces: noise is negative while the pleasant feeling is the positive.

The enemy of cats! Normally. Image in public domain.

In the video, where you see a ginger tabby thoroughly enjoying being vacuumed, the vacuum cleaner is pretty quiet which probably helps a lot in ensuring that the cat accepts it. If a cat accepts being vacuumed it must be a good way of removing some loose hair strands and the occasional flea!

There are many human devices and objects that the domestic cat doesn't understand which is something that cat owners should be aware of. I'm sure most of them are but, you know, the domestic cat is very close to their wild cat ancestor in terms of character and behaviour, which is also something most cat owners understand. 

But this means that they are living in a human environment which can be a little bit alien to them sometimes. It accounts for the fact that 99% of domestic cats are really frightened of the vacuum cleaner. 

They are frightened of any object which is noisy and with which they are not familiar. And it doesn't have to be noisy to be scary as is very evident in the many videos of cats jumping up in the air in sheer terror when they turn around and see a cucumber on the floor. 

Or any other unfamiliar object close to them. Of course, the reaction depends upon the particular cat's character but the default reaction is caution arising out of fear and therefore they run and hide.

To be honest, I do not like videos of cats being frightened of cucumbers. It's certainly amusing to many people which is why they are highly successful videos but let's think of the cat for a moment; the video maker has frightened their cat in order to make a successful video for YouTube. I'm being boring. I'm being too serious. But as I'm concerned with domestic cat welfare more than anything else in these articles, I have to bring up this point.

I have mentioned it before but around 30% of all cats in funny cat videos have been found to be stressed because the funny cat video is based upon a domestic cat doing something strange or be terrified of running away or hiding or failing in a jump of some sort (the big 'fail') and falling to the ground. Failure is funny to a lot of people especially when it is a cat doing something they should good at such as jumping.

It's disrespectful to laugh at a cat failing.

Woman grabs the tail of her domestic cat to stop them falling from an air conditioning unit

This is a typical air conditioning unit in what appears to be a block of flats so it is quite high off the ground. The cat likes the air conditioning unit perhaps because it gives off heat or the opposite. I'm not sure but they enjoy wriggling about on top of it without realising that it is about 20 or 30 feet above the ground. And I suspect that the ground below is concrete and therefore if the cat had fallen, they might have harmed themselves quite badly.

The cat probably likes to wriggle around on the air conditioning unit because it feels nice. It's a form of massage. It reminds me of the way domestic cats like to wriggle around on rough concrete. It has the same effect on them.

RELATED: Why do cats like to roll on concrete?

When cats fall there is an optimum distance above the ground at which they are less likely to harm themselves because they need that time to fan their bodies out to break therefore with air resistance. In the video the distance is not high enough to employ the full braking effect.

RELATED: 16 facts about high-rise syndrome in cats.

Woman saves her cat from falling as a height to concrete below by grabbing her cat's tail. This is a screenshot from the video above.

But the woman was quick acting and I guess did the natural thing which was to grab a piece of their cat's anatomy which was readily available; their tail. It looks a little bit brutal but highly effective. Afterwards she turns towards the camera and smiles but I think it's a nervous smile because it must've been a heart stopping moment for her.

I suspect that the cat is a full-time indoor cat living in the apartment with the woman who saved the cat from falling.

Does this cat enjoy his owner's 'toddler cuddle' or is he complaining?

You tell me. In the video below we see a woman "strongly cuddling" as I would describe it her cat and she kisses him on top of the head. She thinks that her cat did not enjoy it. It is possible that he did, however. Is the sound that he makes one of complaint or enjoyment? 

Complaining cat. She is handling him like a toddler. Image: Screenshot.

Or perhaps it is somewhere in between the two. I do think, however, that she is cuddling him too strongly. I don't think he enjoys being confined and 'compressed' slightly in this way. 

Most cats enjoy being kissed on the top of the head. If they don't, they get used to it and then they enjoy it!

My gut feeling is that this cat is complaining not because of the kiss but by the way that he is being held which is slightly too forceful for him. 

And the reason why she is cuddling him like this is because she loves him. But she is cuddling him as if she would cuddle a toddler; a human being. Entirely understandable. 

Not a particularly bad thing in many ways because it means that she is likely to be bestowing upon her cat human rights. However, under these circumstances the owner has to be careful because they can end up having misplaced expectations about their domestic cat companion. Cats are not humans. The wildcat is just below the surface.

And they can end up interacting with their cat in a way that humans enjoy but cats don't. The mantra is 'respect the cat'. And don't treat them as dogs or little humans except to give them equal rights to humans.

P.S. I think this cat has been handled like this before and has become used to it. He knows what is coming. He partly accepts it as a consequence but still complains.

American Curl turns up in a homeowner's backyard as a stray

This is unusual. Perhaps very unusual. A user on the Reddit.com website has posted a video which you can see below of a domestic cat that they thought had a strange appearance. 

They said that the cat was very big with strange ears. I immediately, identified the cat as an American Curl which is a fairly rare purebred cat and certainly very rare if he or she behaves as a stray cat which appears to be the case in this instance. 

They're not normally large cat but standard-sized domestic cats with one exception to their regular appearance namely the ears that curl back due to a genetic mutation.

Here is an example of an American Curl show cat photographed by Helmi Flick years ago.

Photo: copyright Helmi Flick.

Note: the video below may eventually stop working. Sorry but I can't control its existence. CLICK ON THE EXPAND ICON BOTTOM-RIGHT TO SEE THE VIDEO FULL SCREEN.

What kind of cat is this? Stray cat moved into my back yard. Has huge paws/weird ears.
by u/ReindeerNo1893 in cats

This breed is meant to be very standard in appearance and they can be tabby cats or any other coat type. I suspect that a neighbour of this person owns this cat. 

And the cat has wandered into a neighbour's property as domestic cats do. It is also slightly unusual for a person to allow their fairly rare purebred cat to wander around outside without supervision.

American Curl turns up in a homeowner's backyard as a stray. Screenshot.

An alternative assessment would be that this is a non-purebred cat which happens by chance to carry the genetic mutation which cause the ears to curl back. 

This gives them the appearance of a purebred American Curl. You won't be able to tell the difference because, as mentioned, the American Curl is a very regular looking cat. There are no other outstanding features other than the ears.

Melbourne man attacks 2 cats while walking his dog and it's the Australian government's fault

NEWS AND COMMENT-MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: A man attacked 2 cats while walking his dog in Melbourne last Wednesday. CCTV footage shows him kicking the two cats and encouraging his dog to chase one. One of the cats is 15-years-old and has suffered a serious leg injury which is ongoing. Victoria police have asked anyone with relevant information to contact Crime Stoppers. I'm going to blame the Australian government for this or for contributing to it.

This man attacked 2 cats wantonly without cause. It was a malicious and cruel attack. Photo: Victoria police.

For years, now, the Australian federal government and state governments have railed against feral cats and stray cats. They have basically indoctrinated the public into believing that any cat wandering around a public space, be it the countryside or suburbia, is a pest. They have consistently portrayed feral cats as pests and vermin.

Time and time again we've seen stories of state authorities devising schemes to kill feral cats. Intelligent scientists have used their best efforts to devise clever ways to poison cats. It's all an attempt to protect their native species which are being killed faster by humans than by feral cats by the way.

And the problem is this: when you constantly portray an animal species as vermin, you're going to get people like this uncouth man taking the opportunity to seriously injure a domestic cat whose been let outside to wander around suburbia.

RELATED: Attitude of Australian state governments towards feral cats indirectly promotes cat cruelty as evidenced in Perth.

We know how the public can be indoctrinated into believing whatever you want them to believe given enough time. I predicted this years ago (see link above). Clearly, you don't need to be indoctrinated by the government to hate cats. This man might simply hate them for all kinds of reasons. However, if you are ambivalent about the role of domestic cats and feral cats in the lives of Australians, then some gullible people will be susceptible to the indoctrination of their governments.

I think that it is about time the authorities started to think about how to deal with feral cats humanely. I've hammered on about this for years and they simply refuse to treat stray and feral cats humanely. They encourage people to shoot feral cats. But how do you know the difference between a feral cat and a domestic cat at 50 yards, for certain? What is certain is that some domestic cats are being killed by people who are eager to kill feral cats.

In this instance, and unidentified man was walking his dog on Belloza Way in Mernda, Melbourne at around 4:50 PM last Wednesday. The man kicked a black-and-white cat and encouraged his dog to chase him/her. The police also said that he picked up a piece of wood and attacked another cat. The elderly ginger cat was severely injured.

The man is described as Caucasian, about 185 cm tall of slim build and with dark hair. At the time he was wearing blue shoes, blue mid-length socks, black shorts, black T-shirt, black watch, black sunglasses and his mind is black to 😢! This is a cruel man with a problem and as a consequence society has a problem with him. If you have relevant information, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1800 333 000.

Note: there is a video of the incident. I can't watch it but if you want to see please go to the Daily Mail website by clicking this link.

Dancing high filial Savannah cat in the bedroom

There is one overriding impression when I watch this short TikTok video; the athleticism of the F1-F3 Savannah cat. I am guessing that this is either a first or second filial Savannah cat judging by the size. This places them in a rare category because these high filial Savannah cats have a lot of the male serval genes in them. 

Dancing Savannah cat in the bedroom on the bed. Screenshot.

They are quite closely related to the wild cat, the male serval, who is the father or grandfather of these cats. There's a lot of wild cat blood in them. In fact, for this reason, in a lot of the states of the USA you will find that these sorts of domestic cats are forbidden unless you have a licence. 

They are sometimes considered dangerous by the authorities. Some authorities bracket the F1 and F2 Savannah cat with some genuine wild cat species or other exotic pets. 

RELATED: Why is the Savannah cat illegal?

You really have to be a special kind of person to look after an F1-F3 Savannah cat to a high level. They are not for every cat lover. They require a little more input because they are more intelligent. They need stimulating more than the average domestic cat. Because of their value and their impressive stature, you can't let them wander outside. They are likely to be stolen. They are worth about $20,000 (F1) and perhaps more sometimes. It depends upon the filial.

So, you've got to keep them inside and if you do that they want to go outside because they are intelligent and active. And if they've managed to escape then your neighbours, and people further afield, might be concerned because they can mistake an F1 Savannah cat with a genuine wild cat. They call the police. The police turn up and they also mistake the animal for a wild cat of unknown origin and rather than trap or sedate the cat they shoot it. That sort of thing has happened in America.

RELATED: How was Trouble killed?

A famous F1 Savannah cat called Trouble was at one stage the biggest domestic cat in the world as per Guinness World Records. This beautiful feline escaped his full-time captive lifestyle inside the owner's home and was fairly quickly killed on the road in a traffic accident. That terminated the cat's reign as the biggest cat. A horrendous ending. The owner had difficulty discussing it with anybody. I guess she was too shocked and upset.

Ginger tabby cat loves the electric toothbrush (but not for cleaning teeth)

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Ginger tabby loves electric toothbrush but not for cleaning teeth

Clearly, it is the vibrations from the toothbrush which interests this ginger tabby cat. His owner makes a particular point of not putting it into his cat's mouth because at that point he understands that this love for an electric toothbrush will stop! Wouldn't it be nice though if he could put toothpaste on it and clean his cat's teeth with it? I'd like to see that because cleaning domestic cats' teeth is a bit of a nightmare and poor oral health is also a nightmare. It's in the top 10 of domestic cat health problems because it's is so difficult to keep their teeth clean and, in any case, a lot of cat owners simply don't think about it until their breath smells bad and there cat has periodontal disease requiring surgery under a general anaesthetic which is dangerous.

Excited dog desperately wants to play. Two cats think he's barking mad!

Dog is keen to play. Cats think he is barking mad. Screenshot

This video has been on Twitter for a while. It is cute. Here we have what looks like a young dog desperately wanting to play with one of two cats. The cat he has targeted is completely disinterested despite the repeated attempts to change his mind. The other cat looks on disdainfully as if the dog is barking mad! It's a case of innocent canine confronting two wise cats, who with aloofness look down on the young dog with a little bit of contempt showing in their body language. I know that I am interpreting the video through humane eyes and that I am anthropomorphising the situation, but it does lend itself to that kind of interpretation.

Dog = when you drink alcohol
Cat 1 = when you smoke weed
Cat 2 = when you take acid pic.twitter.com/flXNhhyqFY

— Professor Vow Xhing (@VowXhing) October 3, 2021

Does this domestic cat confront a venomous snake in Bangladesh?

You tell me if this domestic cat in Bangladesh successfully confronts a venomous snake which looks like a cobra to prevent the snake coming into the home. That is what the video maker says. Having watched the video I do not think that it's a correct assessment. It looks to me as if the cat is a little bit bemused by the presence of the snake. 

Cat confronts snake? Screenshot.

He just sits there looking and the state keeps its distance as well. Why should the snake want to come into the home? Perhaps snakes in Bangladesh do like to come into homes for food or whatever but I suspect not. I don't think that this is a true confrontation between cat and snake.

But that said, domestic cats have inherited the ability to confront snakes from their wildcat ancestor. Stakes are on the menu as our reptiles and insects. I'm not saying that this cat would succeed in beating the snake in a fight. I don't think they would but I also don't think that this cat presents a barrier to the snake in a deliberate act to protect the home. That is anthropomorphising in the cat and exaggerating. It's quite a nice video nonetheless because it shows a snapshot of Bangladeshi life which I quite like.

Cat has prevented Cobra from entering inside for nearly 30 min till the Snake Helpline reached the spot. Our cat is around 1.5 years old & live with us like a family member: Sampad K Parida

The sand cat is one of the cat species which is very adept at killing snakes and feeding on them.

Further, this cat is a Van-type cat because you can see the van markings on the forehead. This is very typical of the Turkish Van. Clearly cats from Turkey at some time in the long distant past made their way to Bangladesh with traders probably. Or they simply evolved by themselves in Bangladesh.

'Robbed your cat, come get it back': Video shows thugs snatching a 'terrified' cat and goading its owner

What appears to be a couple of feckless British louts in the UK stole an all-white domestic cat off the street and they appear to be blackmailing or teasing the owner in a video which I believe that they had posted online on social media. It is a theft by the look of it. They should be found and prosecuted.

The thug carries the cat around in a bad way by the shoulders while laughing and goading the owner. They say that they robbed the person's cat and they tease the owner to try and get their cat back. The cat's name is Biscuit. The location is Newbury town centre. The clip has been posted on Snapchat. 

It caught the attention of the locals. The owner of the cat is Sophie Lightowlers. She saw the video but at the time did not realise it was her cat. She spotted it on a Facebook page. As mentioned, the idiotic thug has grabbed the cat by the shoulders and is laughing and goading saying: "Robbed your cat, come get it back."

'Robbed your cat, come get it back': Video shows thugs snatching a 'terrified' cat and goading its owner 

Sophie said that when she first saw the video it made her feel physically sick. She was disgusted that somebody would treat any animal like that and then suddenly realised that it was her cat. Her sentiments turned from disgust to anger and rage.

She said that her Biscuit is a particularly friendly cat. Her temperament allows her to be abused like this because she is very accepting. The video was posted to Facebook by Sophie's friend, Lauren Cayleigh. She wants the men involved to hand themselves into the local authorities.

The men have not apologised or tried to produce a reason for their bad behaviour. The thugs have shown no remorse for their actions. Biscuit is back with her owner now. She was a bit traumatised but she's fully recovered. 

The incident has been reported to the police and the RSPCA. My understanding is that the Daily Mail has been in contact with the men in the video for a comment which is yet to be received. I don't know how they figured out who the men were. It must have been apparent by digging around on social media.

Blind black cat glued to gray cat companion for guidance

This is a stunningly beautiful little video for me because of the closeness of the bond and support given. It contains so much that is human-like. The assistance of one cat given to another who's disabled. That is a human characteristic - for some. And the mutual support is very typical of human behavior.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

And it is just great to see cats in such a strong relationship. It is like love. Maybe true love in the truest sense. 

It is not uncommon to see cats who are very friendly with each other. However, this is friendship maxed out. It is more than simple friendship. It is a very close bond. It is about chemistry between the two. 

Does the guiding cat get as much out of the friendship as the blind black cat? Is the guide cat consciously doing some altruistic? Or is it about mutual support? 

If anyone thinks cats don't have feelings; think again please. In many ways they are similar to humans. And yet we must always respect them as cats. If we try and interact with cats as little humans the relationship may go wrong or it won't be as good as it can be.

The video at the top of the page is uploaded to Google servers so God willing it will not disappear over time. Enjoy. 

CLICK FOR WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF FELINE FRIENDSHIP?

This is the video again. It is not playing properly.

TikToker can't wake up her kitten and thinks he's died suddenly

This cat owning woman who has a TikTok account planned to wake up her kitten and while doing it to video her kitten's reaction. The kitten was obviously in a deep slumber. She picked him up but he refused to wake up. She gently shook him and no reaction. His head flopped around as she gently carried and shook him.

She became concerned. It seems that at one time she believed that he might have died suddenly. Young kittens can die suddenly but this kitten is probably out of that age range where they can suffer from sudden death syndrome. Nonetheless she remained concerned and looked into the camcorder because she thought she would be able to simply wake him up and I feel that she was genuinely surprised by his non-reaction. See image below....

Woman looks concerned into the camera as she tries to 'revive' her kitten. Screenshot.

She wanted to prank her kitten as she said but he pranked her she confessed. TikTok users can use a facility when making videos on this platform. They can convert text into a voice-over which I think is very useful because it helps people with difficulties in expressing themselves really well verbally and therefore is a great equaliser allowing people without verbal skills to create good and interesting videos.

@jollymaii

My heart stopped for ages …

♬ original sound - Jollymai

The video on this page has been seen over 32 million times (at the last count - 20th May), I am told by the website Newsweek. The lady's user name and real name is @Jollymaii - Jolly Hoang.

"I woke up and thought my cat was in a deep sleep so I recorded myself pranking him and I realized he isn't waking up at all. I started to get really scared. Wake up..." she said.

Kittens do sleep really well as they become very tired from lots of sometimes frenetic activity. I have seen kittens suddenly keel over in tiredness and fall to sleep when sitting up. The same happens to puppies. Cats are polyphasic sleepers - they sleep multiple times in 24 hrs. Humans are not as we all know. Cats take cat naps, hence the phrase 'cat naps'.

Looking relieved as she kisses her kitten. Screenshot.

Note: videos on this site are typically made by people other than me and held on YouTube servers or the servers of other businesses (not the server storing this website). Sometimes the videos are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Super cute dwarf kitten video

This is a super-cute short video of a super-cute tabby dwarf kitten wandering around a hard floor. It doesn't get much cuter except the music is not particularly great as far as I am concerned. Please remember by the way that this sort of video can stop working after a while because they get pulled from the website of origin which in this case is Pinterest.

You have to think about the more serious aspects of what looks like a totally innocent video. I'm referring to the fact that the breeding of dwarf cats is questionable. I know that the breeders do all they can to be healthy cats but dwarf cats can inherit a couple of known genetic illnesses. If you breed cats with that potential then you shouldn't do it in my opinion. The Germans would agree with me because they call it "torture breeding". Also, although it's very cute for a cat to have very short legs it goes against nature. Who cares about nature?

Well, a lot of people do especially nowadays with the coronavirus pandemic. People are beginning to see that we should respect nature otherwise we get a backlash from nature. And short legs means that a domestic cat loses a lot of what they are given by nature which is that wonderful athleticism. Their ability to jump beautifully and with great precision. A lot of that is lost in dwarf cats.

Dwarf cat owners say that their cat can jump just fine. Yes, they can jump just fine but not as well as a normal cat because the levers i.e. the length of the bones, are not there and jumping power comes about through fast twitch muscles and long levers. That principle by the way is used when you throw a tennis ball with one of those extenders that dog owners buy. These extenders, as I have called them, increase the lever length of the throwing arm which means that the person can throw the tennis ball much further and with relative ease for a dog to chase.

So we have a sweet, cute video with crappy music but there's something slightly difficult to accept behind the cuteness which is the health and behavioural aspects of the kitten that we see.

Domestic cat sleeps on the floor belly up in busy restaurant!

This cute and confident female tabby cat named Thongdang is seen sleeping comfortably on her back on the wooden floor in a restaurant in Chachoengsao, central Thailand. Such confidence is unusual. With strangers around you'd have thought she'd be more concerned and cautious but no. She's got used to the atmosphere of the place and her experience tells her that it is safe. Of course that feeling might change is someone inadvertently steps on her.

 

Flying Kitty

Awesome jump by a standard domestic cat. It is a reminder of the huge jumping ability of the domestic cat. It is about long levers for hind legs and fast-twitch muscles. Advice to prey animal: don't mess with a domestic cat. It looks like the bird - a magpie - was trying to chase away the cat, perhaps to protect its offspring. She paid the ultimate price sadly.

Flying kitty from r/gifs

Why do cats purr?

Cats don't just purr when they are contented. Therefore, you need to find an answer to the question which covers all circumstances under which domestic as purr. Dr Desmond Morris, the celebrated zoologist and animal behaviourist came up with the right answer in 1986. I'm a bit surprised that is not more widely cited so I will mention it here. In fact, I will quote him verbatim if I may:

"A more precise explanation, which fits all cases, is that purring signals a friendly social mood, and it can be given as a signal to, say, a vet from an injured cat indicating the need for friendship, or as a signal to an owner, saying thank you for friendship given". 

I don't think I can explain it any better than that. The point that he is stressing is that domestic cats purr when they are in a veterinarian's clinic, on the consulting table where they are clearly nervous and stressed. And sometimes they purr when they are about to be euthanised by a veterinarian. Clearly under these circumstances domestic cats are not happy and contented. This is why Dr Desmond Morris was obliged to come up with an all-encompassing reason for the production of this sound. He did that. 

There is another answer to the question, "Why do cats purr?" and it is this: there are different reasons for purring depending on the circumstances. It is a flexible sound that means contendness when being petted or when the cat is on a lap and it means a need for companionship when about to be euthanised.

People sometimes ask whether the wild cat species purr. Some do and some don't. The bobcat and lynx can purr and it is a very impressive sound. The big cats can't but they can roar instead. The small wild cat species can purr but when they do so it is a slightly different sound to the gentle and melodious domestic cat purr.

I Love Cats eHarmony Video

A lot of people say they love the cats eharmony video.  What they are referring to is the video of a fictional young lady called Debbie crying over her love of cats. The video went viral and changed the life of the real-life person who performed this at 2 in the morning in her home.  Her name is Hartmann.

This video explains what happened.  What she said in the video is also transformed into a funky sort of song which you can see a second video on this page.

 

She says that she fooled 27,000,000 people by which he means that most people who watched the video actually believed that her name was really Debbie and that she was both intelligent and crazy about cats and presented this very soft and endearing and for some people charming personality to the public. I'm sure there were a lot of young men who wanted to go out with her on a date as a result of this video. You will see that, as mentioned, the video changed her life as it lead to employment together with a certain amount of celebrity which every young person today craves.

This is the songify version: