She's starting to lose her purr?

Hi, My calico kitty, Julie, is at least ten years old and probably as much as 12-15 years old. She was an adult stray and has been with me since Thanksgiving 1994.

Lately I have noticed that sometimes she has a hard time purring. She makes a sort of squeaky rusty sound. Mostly when she does this, she succeeds in starting a regular purr after a little while. But the other day, for the first time, she could not get her purr started at all.

Most of the time, Julie purrs quite normally without any problems. But I have noticed this "rusty purr" problem increasing as she gets older. She is quite normal in every other way, however.

Has anyone else noticed this "rusty purr" problem with their cats? Is it something I should be concerned about?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Take care,
MARTHA and Julie ("meow")
The California Calico Princess

My 16 year old has the same problem, actually. I think it's honestly just an old age thing, but I'd check with your vet just to make sure it's not something respiratory manifesting itself in kitty's purr.

Yes I have noticed both my cats have this kinda of purr now and then , especially my older one, neither of my cats are ill at all and very healthy, personally I think they just get phlegm (sp) just as we humans do and that is probably why they sound a little on the croaky side at times.