Video creator Chase Holiday tells the heartwrenching and heartwarming story – in text this time – of Furball kitty Buddha and his siblings to honor their 2nd birthday. A video of the siblings from 2010, included here, launched the Furball Fables video series.
Chase and Buddha’s story:
Celebrating Buddha’s 2 nd Birthday this week! From Aug 2010. This is our very first Furball Fables video. It is Buddha with his two brothers, Lucky and Ziggy. They are a black siamese mix. We were trying to find homes for the 3 kittens so we posted on youtube. The Kittens are 5 months old in the video. (we had to repost this video with new music) Read the whole story below.
A beautiful Siamese cat adopted my friend, a senior man living on a limited budget in Hollywood. The cat surprised him by having 3 kittens in his closet. What to do?
Suddenly his landlady said the kittens had to go right away. My friend Kathie and I went to get them. We were horrified by his messy apartment. The kittens were sweet, but stupidly we hadn’t realized they were not socialized. The kittens were terrified of us. It was bad comedy trying to catch them. One bit my hand, hit a vein and my hand instantly blew up like a balloon and became inflected. Somehow we captured them and limped away. We were a mess. ( I had to go on heavy duty antibotics)
It started to go bad with the evil landlady who made my friend get rid of the kittens giving him 24 hrs. His apt build was infested with fleas and she blamed my friend. He was helpless and that is why I stepped in to help. That’s when the wild ride started, kindness, the evil, the kindness, then meanness. Yes some people can be so wonderful and others….. so cruel.
The kittens were fostered by a housesitter (Tabbi) in my friends home. I had no idea how hard it would be to find homes for them. For weeks, I asked everyone I know, sent emails, put up flyers. Advertised on craigslist, got hate mail.
Then Tabbi said they’d been adopted. I was relieved. I did not know the housesitter. I thought it was strange that she would adopt them without consulting me. I called her, asking what happened to the kittens. Tabbi accused me of harassing her. She said a rich lady in Malibu had adopted them, but she did not have the contact info. Tabbi was vague and details were not adding up.
I went to see a cat rescue lady near Tabbi’s work to see if she knew who had the kittens. She told me Tabbi had taken them to the pound. That moment everything got hazy and dark like a bad dream. I began to cry. How could this be? Yes, Tabbi had lied about the kittens.
The rescue woman told me how to find out what happened to them. I rushed to the pound and was relieved to know they were still alive. They were in an isolation room marked “FEARFUL”. They said that I could have the kittens for $110 each. A nice employee said he thought they’d be adopted. He said I could visit as often as I wanted. I did not have the money to get them so I left and cried the rest of the day. I went back the following 3 days but I was never allowed to see the kittens again. On the 3rd day a mean man told me someone was going to die. I panicked and went to the front desk to try and get the kittens. They told me to go to the police and file a report. I left and drove right there. The police said it was complicated and called the animal control supervisor. The supervisor finally agreed to let me have the kittens as long as they were fixed, waving the $330. I brought them home to live in my bathroom.
Surprisingly my 4 cats made no noise or protest and our new life of 7 cats in one home began. For the next 5 weeks I continued my daily job of trying to find homes and I was close many times. The house was playtime-central and I often felt like a prisoner.
Then I made youtube movies of the kittens. The response was amazing. Soon after my neighbor wanted to see the kittens. 2 hours later, Lucky and Ziggy were gone.
We were in shock. My four cats immediately took hold of the 3rd kitten, Buddha and made it clear “We’re keeping him” It never occurred to me that they would have a say in it all. In the end we kept Buddha and our youtube channel Furball Fables was born.
Chase Holiday
Furball Kitties: Merlin, Fairy Princess, Elfin, Yogi and Buddha
We love Chase and the Furball kitties and have featured many of their videosat Life With cats. You can view them by clicking here.
For now, though, here is the video that started it all:
