It Was A Quiet Week at In-Sync Exotics!

What a quiet week this has been for us!  For the first time in a while, we have been able to catch our collective breathes, and perform routine animal preventative  health care.

We started the week with a short presentation of our animals enjoying their enrichment!  Enrichment at our sanctuary encompasses a variety of activities where objects, sounds and/or scents are used to encourage the natural behaviors of the animals under our care. Our animals love their enrichment!  And we love that enrichment provides mental and physical stimulation which enhances the health and well-being of our animals.

On Tuesday we happily announced Merial Pharmaceuticals stepped in and help us with a donation of $1,000 towards our vaccination program.  Thank you Merial for your generosity!

We'd also like to thank everyone who has thus far participated in our “Help Big Cats Receive Their Annual Vaccinations!” Razoo project; so far, we have raised $540! That leaves us with about $485 left towards our goal of $1025.  We pray we can reach our goal within the next 19 days!

We spent so much time covering our larger felines that it was time to introduce our lynxes to our readers. So, on Wednesday, we shared with you our 4-Legged, 2-Eared, and 1-Eyed lynx named Trooper, and his cagemates, Duchess and Tobias. 

Our lynxes are very special animals, each coming from unique backgrounds, forming a tight-knit bond with one another.  If you haven’t seen Trooper, Duchess, or Tobias, you just have to come out to our sanctuary to say “hello!”  

On Thursday, the blog writer shamelessly took a day off from writing, but not without leaving a few humorous Calvin & Hobbs cartoons for our faithful readers’ pleasure plus a homework assignment!  We are working on a story titled "Cat Naps" and we would love our audience to participate in this blog posting.  Send us your favorite photo(s) of your cat sleeping with a catchy caption to our animal email box so we can include the photo(s) in our Tuesday blog.  We received quite a few photos of adorable sleeping cats (with captions), but our “Cat Nap” show would not be complete without YOUR sleeping beauty’s picture to compliment the presentation.  Deadline to submit your photo(s) is this Sunday at 12:00pm CST.  Thank you!

We have some new products in our on-line Gift Shop.  Snuggle up to a good book while you snuggle under our new super-soft Throw Blankets featuring either Kami, Tajar, Issac, Raja & Jasmine, Jazz, Duchess, and Aasha. Our throw blankets are perfect for the couch, the car or an evening ball game, this cozy stadium blanket keeps you warm and toasty. 100% soft, warm polyester fleece, can share the warm with your special human or animal companion!  These 50” x 60” double-sided blankets’ ink will not run, fade or distress, and they are machine washable!

Since a few of our products are showing up in the horizontal and not vertical position on the Gift Shop web page, we though you might appreciate how these masterpieces look facing the correct direction:

Stadium Blank featuring Issac!

Stadium Blanket featuring Kami

Stadium Blanket featuring Tyjar

Stadium Blanket featuring Aasha

Stadium Blanket featuring Jazz

Stadium Blanket featuring Duchess

Stadium Blanket featuring Raja & Jasmine

Stadium Blanket featuring Aasha

These gorgeous stadium blankets are printed front and back with the same image!  If you are interested in purchasing one of our stadium blankets for yourself or as a gift, please visit our on-line Gift Shop today!

Well, we hope you enjoyed this week's blog and will return next week for more fun, entertaining and informative updates on the animals of In-Sync Exotics!  Have a fun and safe weekend -- and don't forget to visit the animals if you happen to be in vicinity of In-Sync Exotics!

[Silent reminder] - Green Source DFW Environmental Awards! Voting ends on Monday, 2/13/2012.  Our lynxes thank you!
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Guess Who is Playing Hooky Today?

Well, your blog writter has decided to play hooky, so there will no blog story today.  Now I know you are really disappointed, but don't fret, your blog writter will be back tomorrow with more fabulous infromation about In-Sync Exotics.

In the meantime, we have an assignment for our faithful readers--we are working on a story titled "Cat Naps" and we would love our audience to participate in this blog posting.  Please send us your favorite photo(s) of your cat sleeping with a catchy caption to our animal email box by noon Sunday, so we can include the photo(s) in our Monday blog.  So far we have received several adorable pictures and we would love to see more! 

Plus we'd like to thank everyone who has thus far participated in our Help Big Cats Receive Their Annual Vaccinations! Razoo project; thus far have raised $490!  That leaves us with about $535 left towards our goal of $1025.  We pray we can reach our goal within the next 20 days!

Until tomorrow, we hope you enjoy a little Calvin and Hobbes humor!  To see them better, please click on the cartoon and enjoy -

Please don't forget to pass on the humor--share  this blog with your friends and family!

What Has 4-Legs, 2-Ears, and 1-Eye?

We have written quite a bit about our lions, tigers, cougars, bobcats, but nothing about our Lynxes!  That’s going to change, starting now!

Hello Trooper!

Meet Trooper, our Siberian Lynx who arrived at In-Sync Exotics on August 17, 2005!  You may have noticed Trooper looks a little different than our other two lynxes. Well, Trooper, aptly named based on everything he went through during his first year of life, is one tough cookie. 

For you see, Trooper was at one time a private pet who was confiscated by the local authorities in south Texas and brought to The ARK (Animal Rehabilitation Keep) to surgically treat his broken leg and perform eye surgery.  Trooper remained with The ARK during the course of his rehabilitation until Dr. Tristan, volunteer veterinarian for The ARK, believed it was time for the lynx to find a new home. 

When we received the call from Dr. Tristan asking us if we would take in a young Siberian Lynx with a visual disability, our immediate answer was “yes!”  

Dr. Tristan told us everything this young cat had been through his first nine months of life, describing him as "a real trooper.  Hearing this Vicky exclaimed “that’s it!  His name will be Trooper!”

There appears to be a mystery as to what happened to Trooper’s eye.  Dr. Tristan said he wasn’t sure what happened to him as The ARK was given two different stories:  either his eye was poked out or Trooper’s mother severely scratched his eye.  Since his eye could not be saved, the vet cleaned and stitched his eye socket closed.  So how did Trooper break his leg?

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We 'paws" for this commercial announcement:

We need your help!  We are writing an article on sleeping cats and we would love our audience to participate in this story by submitting their favorite picture of a domestic cat sleeping.  So, if you have a picture of a cat (or two) that you would like to share with our blog audience, please email the picture(s) HERE and we will include it in our upcoming article “Cat Naps!”  Please be sure to add an accompanying caption you'd like to see with the picture(s). Thank you…now back to our story…

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Turns out the reason why Trooper’s leg was broken was because the previous owner’s bookshelf fell upon him as he attempted to climb the furniture.   

Thankfully, Trooper’s 4-5 month rehabilitation with The ARK helped him recover from his eye surgery and broken limb.  It was time to introduce the boy to his new friend, Duchess!

Beautiful Duchess!

Duchess arrived at In-Sync Exotics on February 9, 2002, almost three years prior to Trooper’s arrival, and she too used to be a private pet.  Duchess lived her owner for 8 years in Dallas Ft. Worth until a court order was issued requiring Duchess to relocate.

Someone recommended In-Sync Exotics to the owner and after a few phone calls; Duchess came here to live with us.

This was a big change for Duchess after living in the house for so long, but we felt with a lot of attention she would come to accept her new surroundings. It was also very painful for her owner to give her up.

For the first 6 weeks, Duchess didn't eat much. We tried the food her owner left for her and other red meat, but she finally decided she likes the chicken with vitamin supplements best.

Duchess is now very comfortable here at In-Sync Exotics. She loves her cagemate, Trooper, and can often be found snuggling with him inside the den, especially on cold winter days. We are happy to have this beautiful cat with us, moodiness and all.

Last to join our Lynx family was Tobias!   

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We "paws" for one more commercial announcement:

Only five days left until Valentine’s Day!  There is still time to shop for that special gift and/or card from our on-lineGift Shop!  Or how about making a Valentine’s Day gift in someone’s name by making a contribution towards our Vaccination Program!  We will be placing the names of “in honor of” or “in memory of” on our website site located HERE.  Let your special someone know how much you care about the animals of In-Sync Exotic by gifting in their honor!  Thank you…now back to the conclusion of our story...

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Little Tobias!!

Tobias was rescued by the USDA from a breeder in Oklahoma and brought to us on March 19, 2010. He was roughly 10 months old and suffered the effects of extreme negligence. His condition was so bad upon his arrival that we were not even 100% sure he was a lynx. He suffered severe ringworm, which left him almost entirely hairless. He was also anemic and significantly underweight at only 10.5 pounds. 

Today, you can see Tobias, Duchess, and Trooper playing and snuggling up together.  You may have noticed that Tobias does not have the same coloring as our other two lynxes, making it very easy for our guests to identify him out of our three small exotic wild cats.

Our lynxes are very special animals, each coming from unique backgrounds, forming a tight-knit bond with one another.  If you haven’t seen Trooper, Duchess, or Tobias, you just have to come out to our sanctuary to say “hello!”  

Our Lynxes!

We hope you enjoyed this brief introduction to our three lynxes – if you liked the story, you know what to do (see boxes below) and don’t forget to share this story with your friends and family!

[Silent reminder] - Green Source DFW Environmental Awards! Our lynxes thank you!

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Wild Cats Received Their Shots!

Alysia preparing the vaccines
to be administered to the cats!

What??? The In-Sync Exotics’ cats received their shots already? Yes, that right! We were offered a wonderful gift we simply could not refuse. For you see, the makers of the vaccine donated $1,000 towards our vaccination program. We are so happy Merial Pharmaceuticals was able to step in and help our wild ones with their annual vaccinations. Thank you so much, Merial!

So on Wednesday, Friday and yesterday we administered a total of 51 combination doses of Rabies and RCPC (Rhinotracheitis [Feline Herpesvirus], calicivirosis, & panleucopenia) as required by Texas law to ensure the health and welfare of our animals and protect our animal keepers.  Thankfully, the cats, over the years, have gotten used to receiving their shots due to our Animal Husbandry Training Program, barely registering the serum entering their bodies, making it much easier for us to administer the shots--in the two combined days it only took us 3 1/2 hours to give out 47 injections!

Apollo has complete trust in Vicky as she administers a shot

We are almost finishing giving all the cats their shots--we still have 3 big cats, 2 cheetahs, 7 small exotics, and of course the domesitc cats. One exotic wild cat in particular wasn't exactly happy to receive his shot as seen in the video below:



Jasi, who is currently not enrolled in the Animal Husbandry Training Program, promptly urinated all over the bottom of Andrea's pants as a show of wild cat displeasure after receiving his shot.  Yep, Jasi needs training!

So now that the cats have been wormed and received their vaccinations right on schedule, we are left fundraising to cover the final costs of the shots!  We are only short approximately $600 of our new fundraising goal of $1,025!

Can you help us raise the remaining funds on our Razoo project “Help Big Cats Receive Their Annual Vaccinations!”? 

Yes?  That’s great!  A donation of $10 or more towards our vaccination program would be a tremendous blessing for our sanctuary.  Even though this is the smallest Razoo project we've posted thus far, it is no less important than our other major fundraising projects!

Since we are a 501 (c)(3) non-profit sanctuary, gifts made to this project are tax deductible as allowed by law.

So please, won't you help us with our vaccination program today?  We humbly thank you for your kind and considerate contribution towards our animals' vaccination program!

Jasmine's Birthday "Cake"

Last Friday night we celebrated Jasmine and Raja's birthday.  As you may recall, our beloved Raja passed away last year.  So in honor of Jasmine and Raja's birthday we prepared a special treat for Jasmine -- two helpings of our special "Birthday Cake."  We also made two more pieces of "cake" for her offspring, so they could join in on the celebration.  Tyjar and Shamu loved, loved, loved their tasty treats!

Just by looking at the piece of cake pictured left, can you guess what the secret ingredient was under the cool whipped topping?  How about a good sized piece of top sirloin steak with cheese art decorating the outside of the plate!  For tigers, this is a yummy dessert!  So it was no wonder Jasmine, Tyjar, and Samu simply found their cakes simply divine...

So, did you find this posting "funny, interesting, or cool?"  If yes, please let us know by clicking on one of the reaction buttons below!  And don’t forget to share this posting with people you know who would appreciate having their day brightened by clicking on one of our share links listed below!  Thank you!

Oh, and as a reminder, don't forget to vote for us today in the Green Source DFW Environmental Awards!  Our vaccinated cats from In-Sync Exotics thank you!

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Our Cats Just Love Saturdays!

Did you know that every Saturday we provide enrichment to a different group of cats starting at 1:00pm?   We just love watching our cats tearing into cardboard boxes or playing with “enhanced” play buckets—and the cats just love the unusual smells emanating from their special “toys.” 

What is enrichment and why is it important for the In-Sync Exotic animals?  Great question!

Enrichment at our sanctuary encompasses a variety of activities where objects, sounds and/or scents are used to encourage the natural behaviors of the animals under our care. This type of enrichment compels our animals to interact with their environment and with each other. We use various forms of enrichment (e.g., what an animal visualizes, smells, hears, tastes or touches) because it is important to mentally and physically stimulate the animals so as to maintain and enhance the health and well-being of all our wild ones!

Two of our volunteers, Karin and Robert Saucedo, put together an adorable short special video of last Saturday’s enrichment event.  So, let’s test your knowledge of our big cats by identifying the cats featured. We’ll share the animals’ names of our “movie stars” at the bottom of this posting…

Okay, were you able to figure out which cats received enrichment last Saturday?  Yes? Well, let’s see how well you did.  The cats seen in the video were:  Jynxie (lioness); Kahn & Sheila (lions); and lynxes Tobias, Trooper and Duchess (she was exploring the inside of the paper bag)! 

So, how did you do? If you happen to be in the area, we hope you can come out and see the animals receive their enrichment!  Here are the links for directions and tour information!

Did you find this posting "funny, interesting, or cool?"  If yes, please let us know by clicking on one of the reaction buttons below!  And don’t forget to share this posting with people you know who would appreciate having their day brightened by clicking on one of our share links listed below!  Thank you!

Oh, and as a reminder, don't forget to vote for us today in the Green Source DFW Environmental Awards!  Our “enriched” cats from In-Sync Exotics thank you!

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