Balthazar

Greetings and salutations, friends!
It is I. Balthazar, here to bring you a magical gift. No it is not the gift of myrrh (which my biblical namesake gave to baby Jesus) - the gift is simply my wonderful self. What even is myrrh, anyway??
I am a magnificently handsome boy with a coat that is soft and glorious to touch and stunning blue eyes. I'm sure some people will have stopped to look at me just because I'm so attractive (I can see why, really!) but there's a bit more to know about me.
I came into foster care after ending up at the pound. My rescuers have no idea about my life beforehand or how I came to be in the pound - and I haven't mastered the english language unfortunately - so we can't tell you about my past.
BUT hopefully you can help me create a happy future!

In the pound I was terrified. I hadn't been handled by kind people much at all so I hissed and ran away and lashed out if I was backed into a corner. I didn't want to be touched at all for weeks and weeks and I would just creep over to my food bowl and that was the only time my foster mum saw me move!
Finally one day I started playing with a toy while she was watching and she almost cried with happiness! I'm still very very shy and unsure about being handled, but I actually enjoy pats now sometimes and will lean right into them and even arch my back to show you I'm getting into it!

Because I'm very shy, I need a family who will understand that it is going to take me a lot of time to settle in. Ragdolls are cats who are known for being cuddly and 'floppy' but in reality not many of us actually are, and I definitely am not! Or not yet, anyone. We can start with calm, gentle pats and brushing and then work up to cuddles.
So if you can give me a quiet space and just shower me with gentle love as I learn to trust you, then I promise we will become very best friends.

Okay so now all of that is out of the way, we have something else to talk about with regards to my health. I have a condition called gingivo-stomatitis, which means my gums are chronically inflamed - just like a person who hasn't seen the dentist in a while or doesn't brush properly, except that my problem doesn't come from not brushing!
It was probably caused by me having a virus when I was younger, which wasn't treated because I wasn't living in very good conditions.
At the moment, it isn't affecting me at all and I'm not on any medication. I eat without difficulty and you honestly wouldn't know anything was wrong.
In the future though, I might run into trouble. Longer-term, I may need on-going steroid treatment (generally in the form of regular injections) to reduce the inflammation, or I might need to have some or lots of my teeth extracted to alleviate any discomfort when it arises.
I also am prone to having particularly weepy eyes, so you'll need to be happy to help me keep them clean.

My foster mum can talk to you more about me and answer any questions you have.
I'm definitely not perfect, but I'm pretty great! My namesake, Balthazar the wise man, apparently lived to be 112 - I don't expect to get that much time, but hopefully you can give me many many good years! :)