Is it a fat cat thing? Fonzie tips the scales at 30 pounds
I know. I wish I could have seen Katya when she was a little tiny fuzzer with blue eyes. She was 5 months old when we adopted her, so we missed that.
Here are a couple of data points for you. My kitty Meep was a purebred Russian Blue girl (sadly, we lost her to lymphoma last year). Here are a couple of pictures of her:
Meep 1
Meep 2
Meep, a little older
Russian girls are usually fairly small, lithe, and graceful looking. The boys get bigger and a little more “jowly” as they get older, especially if they’ve been neutered.
We have two more Russian girls now, but I haven’t gotten their pics up online yet.
My Cory snores. It’s hilarious.
Brynda, did you take the cat to the vet? Did the vet find out what was going on?
Did Meep have an unusual voice? Katya does. She almost never meows (though she has done it, so we know she can), but more often makes a sort of cooing noise. I’m wondering if that’s a Russian Blue characteristic.
Katya’s coat is distinctive- the hairs are very fine, and she feels very silky when you pet her. It’s hard to see Katya-hairs after she’s shed them- I’m always finding thick, coarse, white Luna-hairs on my clothes, but you almost never notice the Katya-hairs. Are your Russians like this?
Bruno belches.
No, Meep had a rather sweet voice. She didn’t meow all that often, but when she did, she was pretty much in the range of normal cat noises. The two we have now both sound pretty normal too–one is a lot more vocal and has a little bit of an “old smoker lady” voice, and the other one sounds a lot like Meep.
I do notice that when these two purr, though, they sound like little pigeons cooing. It’s an incredibly soothing sound. Meep’s purr was also soothing, but it was more of a two-tone regular purring sound.
One of our current Russians has particularly soft and silky fur (they’re both silky, but she’s extra silky). Can’t address the shedding issue, though–we have five cats, and there’s so much cat hair around that we can’t always identify whose is whose. I do wear a lot of black T-shirts, though, and the hair definitely shows up after I hold the Russians.
Meep was a beautiful girl. I’m sorry you lost her. 
For all I know, Mama’s just your average farm cat, though I do see some resemblance to the Russian blues. She’s a keeper, either way.