could you tell me why I have hardly any buds on my pussy willow tree.

Have you pruned it?
They flower best on wood grown the prwevious year. So once they have finished flowering you prune off all the branches which have flower (end of May we do ours) and then the new branches develop and flower the following year. Try feeding it too.

Is it in a sunny site with plenty of moisture? Lots of plants won't flower if they are not in ideal conditions. I would prune out all the dead growth 'underneath' the crown of the plant, you'll find there's lots. You can tell what's dead by the colour of the twigs compared to the twigs with healthy buds on. If you do this you will prevent dead growth building up over the years and making the plant top heavy.