Releasing Bugsy and Mustafa and a Stop at Sammy's

We released Bugsy and Mustafa just a little while ago.  It is the first time I remember us having to coax the cats out of the cages.

Bugsy was scared and didn't want to come out

As soon as I walked around the back of the cage, though, he shot out - so fast we couldn't even get a picture.  But it was very worrying because he ran across the parking lot into the street.  We tried to let him go in an area we knew he was familiar with, but it was our fault for not taking him farther down into the park.  We learned a big lesson tonight. 

Mustafa as well was reluctant to come out:

Nik tries to get Mustafa to come out

When he finally did, he disappeared into this brush faster than we could catch it. 

Sonata was near by

We are not sure which of the black cats we feed this is - it could be Mystery, or it could be Braveheart

Because Mustafa bolted, these two cats ended up getting his treat

On the way home we stopped at Sammy's to fill the food bowls and change the water, and we ran into Amber.  Amber has been living in the neighborhood for at least a couple of years.  She was spayed by somebody, not us, before we met her.  She had taken up residence at our house last summer until the last months when mating season started and so many new cats started coming to our house to feed, and then she was scared off.  Since then she has been feeding mostly at Sammy's, but she is not happy about it.  She used to sleep with Sylvia in my car, and they became great chums; I know she misses that.  She's lost a lot of weight since then and has been showing a lot of insecurity.  I worry about her.  I worry about all the cats.

Here she is at Sammy's tonight:

Amber at Sammy's looking at the biggest slug either of us has ever seen.

 Sylvia, Amber's friend

 Amber and Sylvia together last summer in our garden

So we made some mistakes tonight, and it is disheartening.  We will know in the future what to do differently.  We have never had difficulties with release before, and we weren't prepared for what happened.