In Danielle Chavez’s home, kittens are frequently present. With Grace Rescue’s founder in Las Vegas adopts as many newborn and special needs foster infants as she can. She had no idea, however, that they would draw even more creatures to her home.
Then, at the end of October, a solitary tuxedo cat she called Buddy began appearing in her garden.
“At first, I started seeing him on our security cameras and he would just sit outside our sliding glass door, just watching us,” Chavez told The Dodo. “I think our cats drew him to the door. It looked like he wanted to play with them.”
Chavez wasn’t sure where the cat had come from or where he was living. At first, she assumed he belonged to the local cat colony or a neighbor, but after trapping him, she discovered he wasn’t neutered or microchipped. Chavez had Buddy neutered and vaccinated, and returned him to her backyard.
We had kittens in every part of the home, so Chavez admitted that she was forced to release the nice cat despite the fact that doing so devastated her. But there was just something about Buddy, so I made a promise to him that if he kept showing up, we would bring him inside and find him a permanent home as soon as we had a place for him.
Buddy kept his end of the bargain — continuing to visit Chavez’s home for the next month, looking through the glass at the kittens inside. When a spot for Buddy finally opened up, Chavez kept her promise, too.
But as much as Buddy wanted to be with the other cats, it wasn’t easy to earn his trust.
“We tried everything over the course of a week to lure him in, but he just wasn’t having it,” Chavez said. “He would sit at our sliding glass door and just stare at our cats and want to play with them, but he just couldn’t get up enough courage to come in.”
Finally, she set up a humane trap and Buddy went inside within minutes.
While Buddy was not pleased to be in a home at first, Chavez knew it was the right place for him. And soon the sweet outdoor cat embraced his new life playing with the kittens he’d spent so long watching from afar.
“He became confident and really enjoyed human companionship and being spoiled rotten,” Chavez said. “He is so goofy, silly, playful and lovable.”
The only thing left to do was to find Buddy a family to love him.
Applications for Buddy’s adoption began to flood in, but none of them seemed to be a good fit for the vivacious feline. Then Chavez came upon Jake and Ryanne, a young couple still in shock over the death of their own pet.
“After a sequence of clicks, Ryanne, who was searching the internet for a cat that spoke to her, found our Instagram profile. She was immediately captivated by Buddy’s face “said Chavez. “I simply knew Jake and Ryanne’s application was the one after reading it. My heart was moved by their tale, and I felt that our Buddy was the ideal candidate to mend theirs.”
Now that Buddy is at home, it’s obvious he made the correct decision when choosing the house to visit all those months ago.
“There are so many individuals who ignore animals in need. Buddy won’t be able to survive on the streets for very long, “said Chavez. Buddy found a wonderful permanent family and I am so delighted that he started coming to see us.
