Oakland Backyard Feral Colony Stragglers (2006)

Bugalu at his forever home:

Buster was found in the same backyard colony as Mama Callie and her kittens. I was visiting my friend Darla, and she told me she’d seen a couple new kittens out back, and one looked pretty sick. I went to the area she had seen him, and before too long, he toddled out to the edge of the stone wall, behind which he’d been hiding.

I expected him to dart away as I approached, but the poor thing’s eyes were glued shut with goop and he didn’t even see me coming. He gave a token hiss as I picked him up, and then started purring. We also caught his sister, Moxie. I cleaned them both up, and Darla said she’d try fostering them. She couldn’t get him to eat, so after a day I came back to get him, and she kept Moxie.

He was a stubborn weaner, but we used the magic of chicken to move him to solid food, and he never looked back!

In fact, he became quite the omnivore! He once took a FLYING leap at Aidon, while still quite tiny, in order to get his fair share of cheesecake batter! Around here, we call that a “camera emergency!”

Buster was always a shoulder kitten, and he made fast friends with all the local kitties, big and small alike.

My friend Les fell in love with him the first time she saw his picture, and she has provided a testimonial about how she came to get Buster, who then became Bugalu, which fit with his nickname of Boogie.

When Les first met him, we ended up with several photos where they appeared to have the same facial expression. They were a perfect match for one another!

We found Midnight in the same backyard, along with Little Bit – but they were from two separate litters. My friend Tshuma came and met her early on and started to fall in love with her, and nicknamed her Truffle – which stuck. She was a gorgeous chocolate brown-black, although it was very hard to capture that with the camera. She looked black unless she was in the sunlight.

The name stuck when Tshuma took her home, a few weeks later, too 😉

Truffle was a little shy at first, but warmed up with some loving. She was always adventurous and loved high places, and camera straps!

She was very sweet, but never got gregarious, so it was wonderful when she found her forever home with someone who was willing to give her the patience she needed. And a proper name! Lucy!

MicroKitty was a tiny little thing, who was abandoned at birth. Sarah, one of the kids who lived where the feral colony was, heard him and sought him out by sound, and brought him inside. Knowing I had more experience with tiny infant kittens, they called to see if I could help. Also, I still had Mama Callie, and there was always the chance she’d take the little tyke in.

Mama Callie was willing to have him, and clean him, and let him nurse, but he wasn’t particularly good at it – even when his foster sisters were willing to cuddle him and give him nursing room – so I supplemented and tried to keep him going with formula.

As so often happens with abandoned kittens, he didn’t make it. It was heartbreaking, and as it happened, he died while I was visiting his place of birth, and I had him with me for feeding and subq fluids, so he died surrounded by a lot of love, and warmth. He started to open his eyes only a few hours before he passed.

I had been blogging about him for the whole week I had him, and his death sent ripples around the ‘net. He was one loved tiny kitten.

Sarah and I buried him in their backyard, with many loved ones present.