Can you catch a shiny Purrloin in Pokémon Go?

Purrloin is one of the many cat-like Pokémon you can encounter in Pokémon Go. It evolves into Liepard, and both are Dark-types, making them exceptionally useful if you’re trying to complete any Dark-type related activities, such as catching multiple of them for Special Research tasks. Purrloin appears reasonably often in the wild. Is there a chance you can catch a shiny Purrloin in Pokémon Go?

Does Purrloin have a shiny version in Pokémon Go?

We can confirm the shiny version for Purrloin is not available in Pokémon Go. You should not expect to encounter it in the wild, and it won’t appear if you have a chance to earn a Purrloin encounter for Field Research or defeat it in a raid battle.

Related: Pokémon Go’s Evolving Stars event introduces the next big Season of Light Special Research story

Purrloin comes from the Unova region and has been in Pokémon Go since mid-September 2019, initially arriving for A Unova Unveiling event. This was the final Unova-related event for the Ultra Bonus Event 2019. At the time, Purrloin frequently appeared in the wild, making it easy for players to catch it and evolve it into Liepard. Typically, Niantic likes to release the shiny version for a Pokémon a year or two after they arrive, but it looks like Purrloin is still waiting.

Because you cannot catch a shiny Purrloin, we recommend not expecting to catch one during its October 2022, Spotlight hour. It will frequently appear in the wild on October 4 from 6 PM to 7 PM in your local time zone. Outside of this event, it has a decent chance to appear in the wild, but none of these will yield a shiny version. We don’t know when Niantic will release this shiny version, but hopefully, sometime soon, and shiny collectors can add another to their collection.