A kitten picked the right house to visit in a neighborhood and befriended the family. His life was forever changed.
A few weeks ago, a young cat showed up in a Las Vegas neighborhood. He was about eight months old, and scrounging for food at night. He wandered to the backyard of a family and decided to observe them from afar. Little did he know, he picked the right place to hang around.
Danielle, the homeowner and founder of With Grace (a kitten rescue in Las Vegas), spotted the tuxedo outside. She reached out to the neighbors to see if anyone recognized the cat, but no one did.
"We have a colony of cats (all neutered) in our neighborhood that are all tuxedos, so we were not sure if he was a part of the colony or not," Danielle told Love Meow.
She was able to safely trap the kitten and take him to the vet. No microchip was found, and the kitten whom they named Buddy, was then neutered, vetted and taken back to the cat colony to be cared for.
At the time, Danielle had a full house with rescued kittens in every room. She did what she could to help the young cat and kept food available in her backyard every day. "I promised him if he kept coming around, as soon as we had a spot for him, we would bring him inside and find his forever home."
Buddy would come back to his faithful food provider and hang out in their backyard. Slowly but surely, he became more comfortable around the family. As time went on, he even tried to interact with their resident cats through the door.
"I started working on earning his trust. We tried everything over the course of less than a week to lure him in, but he just wasn't having it," Danielle shared with Love Meow. "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 enough courage to come in."
Danielle decided to set a humane trap in the backyard to give it a try. Within minutes, Buddy walked right in.
Indoor life was not easy for the tuxedo at first as he'd likely lived on the streets for most of his life. Danielle and her husband worked together and spent ample time with Buddy, trying to win him over.
Once the tuxedo realized he was safe and that indoor life wasn't so bad after all, he came out of his shell and even started to seek affection.
"He became confident and really enjoyed human companionship and being spoiled rotten. I named him Buddy, after the holiday movie Elf. He has the same personality as the main character, Buddy."
Watch Buddy and his journey in this video:
When Buddy was introduced to toys for the first time, he didn't know what to make of them. Once he discovered the joy of playing with them, he was obsessed — there wasn't a toy he didn't love.
"He is so goofy, silly, playful and lovable. When my husband would walk by him, he would stand on his back legs and bear hug/attack his legs," Danielle told Love Meow.
"Also, if he was in the cat tree and we would walk by, he would have to (playfully) take a swipe at us, as if to say, 'tag! You're it!'"
Buddy is quite the character and has blossomed into a happy, lively, playful cat since the day he chose indoor life.
"Despite still being a kitten, he is surprisingly big for his age. No matter how much I played with him, he just would not stop," Danielle's husband shared.
"If everyone would spay and neuter their pets, and try and help the stray and feral cat overpopulation, we could drastically reduce the amount of homeless cats/kittens on the streets," Danielle added.
Buddy had his life turned around and was finally ready to find a place of his very own, where he would live like a king and be cherished and spoiled.
Ryanne and Jake, a couple, came across a post about Buddy by chance, and were instantly smitten. They recently lost their beloved cat Shadow, and something about Buddy touched their hearts.
Two days ago, Buddy (renamed Ziggy Buddy Palermo) was officially adopted into his forever home with the couple. "Buddy/Ziggy was meant to come into our lives and be apart of our family," Ryanne wrote.
"He is so sweet and loving. He has stolen my heart. He is already healing the wound of the heart that Shadow's sudden passing left on us, and filling that with his own love."
The tuxedo wandered to the right house to seek help that night, and ended up finding the perfect family (with many furry friends) to spend his life with.
Share this story with your friends. Follow Danielle's rescues at With Grace on Facebook and Instagram. Follow Buddy/Ziggy and his adventures on Instagram.
Related story: Cat with 3 Legs Went Back to House Where He Discovered Kindness, and Found Family of His Dreams