Another Busy Week at In-Sync Exotics!

Well, folks, we made it through another busy week!  Since the temperatures hovered around the mid 90's each day this week, we couldn't help but wish we could jump into the pool with our tigers to cool off.  Whew!

Let's recap this week's events PLUS we've add a bit of important information at the end of this posting, so please read this posting until the end, please!

On Monday, we started the week with some good news and some sad news.  Good news was, Nugget's health is improving and his hair is finally growing back!  Yea!  The bad news was, Missy, Vicky's beloved horse and constant companion of 33 years, passed away on June 22, 2012.  Everyone misses Missy very much, including her horse companion of five years, Twiggy.

To read more about these two amazing animals, please click HERE.

Tuesday's blog was about two special and handsome tigers, Midas and Tyjar.  Click HERE to read why these two tigers, brothers in fact, are very special tigers to In-Sync Exotics.

Have you heard about our exciting upcoming events?  No?  Well, click HERE to learn more about our special events!  You don't want to miss all the fun, now do you?  Click!  Click!

Yesterday's blog was about Kaiya's medical prognosis.  She is currently under medical care for an unusual condition.  Click HERE to read about what has got our vet "stumped" as to why she is acting so strange.  

And now for an important announcement!

Kroger is giving away $1M to local charities! Help us get a piece of the pie by linking your Plus card to our organization today!

You can link your Kroger Plus card to our organization by presenting our barcode to the cashier the next time you check out. The cashier will scan your card and then the barcode to link you to our organization. Once the process is complete, you will be enrolled as a supporter for the remainder of the current program year! Every time you shop, a portion of your sale will be contributed to the Neighbor to Neighbor fund. We will be awarded a percentage of the $1 million payout that reflects our number of qualifying purchases made within the program year.

To get a copy of our barcode, please click HERE!  Thank you so much for shopping at Kroger and helping us "win" a piece of the pie!

Cheetah Fast Track Habitat Update

Our construction crew has been working really hard on our new cheetah enclosure!  We shall be painting this weekend and hopefully very soon we will be laying down the concrete!  We will post more pictures of our progress next week.

Supplies are Needed!

Running a sanctuary means we go through a lot of general supplies on a weekly basis!  Our most needed supplies are paper towels, garbage bags, bleach, laundry soap, dish soap, disinfectant spray and wipes, copy paper, and toilet paper!  We could really use your help in offsetting our general supply costs, so more dollars can be spent on our animals!  If you would like to bring us some donated items, please click HERE for our wishlist.  If you live far away, but would still like to help us with our needed supplies, please click HERE for our Amazon Wishlist.  

Thank you so much for supporting the animals of In-Sync Exotics! Your kind donations truly do make a difference in helping us rescue and care for animals needing a safe and loving home.  No donation is too small and all donations are really appreciated!

Well, this concludes another week at In-Sync Exotics.  Until we meet again, have a safe and wonderful weekend.  Don't forget, we are open for tours--Friday - Sunday.  To learn more about our tours, click HERE!

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The Vet Visits Kaiya!

In mid-June, Kaiya, Iona, and Sultan (affectionately known as “The Brats”) got into a scuffle that resulted in Kaiya receiving a claw tear wound to her elbow.  She was placed on an antibiotic called Baytril for about two days to ward off infection.

After a day on the medication, we noticed Kaiya acting nervous and twitching at "phantom" flies.  We took her off the medication, thinking she was having an allergic reaction to the Baytril.  After a couple of days, we noticed her behavior did not improve so we gave her some Benadryl.

Well, the Benadryl did not help her either, so we took her off the mediation hoping our Kaiya's behavior would return to normal.  When there was no change, we called her vet to see what type of treatment we should follow.  He suggested Kaiya go back on the Benadryl for a week and follow-up with him to report any changes.  Unfortunately, her nervous behavior did not improve, so it was time for our vet to come out and visit the girl!

After viewing a few videos we took of Kaiya over a two week period Tuesday morning, our vet expressed concern regarding Kaiya’s behavioral change.  He could not see any outward physical problems, so it was a mystery as to why Kaiya was so jumpy—swatting her face and trying to bite the air towards her back.  We watched as Kaiya suddenly jumped up, for no reason at all, and began pacing around her quarters.  After a while, she would finally lie down in a different spot, and then like clockwork, she’d start the whole process over again!  It was tiring just to watch her.

The decision was made to sedate her so our vet could conduct a thorough body examination. Kaiya was so high strung that it took her 20 minutes or so before she even started feeling the effects of the sedatives, and yet she still tried to get up and move around.  So we gave her another 20 minutes to calm down, to no avail.   Finally, we gave her a very small dose of Ketamine that finally helped her calm down long enough for our vet to examine her.

We inspected her skin (front and back), tummy, chest, armpits, neck, and legs, but found absolutely nothing physically wrong with her.

When we examined her ears, we noticed she had an ear infection, so our vet prescribed Amoxicillin for the next ten days.

We checked her claw tear on her elbow and it was healing nicely. We checked her teeth, heart rate, and toenails, and last but not least, we took a lot of blood for a full blood panel work up.

When we get the blood results, we may start her on Prednisone to see if that helps her. If that doesn't work to calm her down, we’ll have to explore other options to help reduce Kaiya’s nervous behavior.

We will keep you posted regarding Kaiya’s condition as we pray this is only temporary and that it disappears on its own very soon.  We may receive her test results later today, so please check back with us again soon!

We have an update!

Kaiya's blood tests results are in and we have great news to report -- no abnormalities were found in her blood.  Her blood tests came back normal! 

So, for the next week or so, Kaiya will take four Prednisone pills, twice a day. If we see an improvement, then we will slowly wean her off the medication.  If there is no improvement, Kaiya will remain on the Prednisone for a few more days so her vet can reevaluate her condition.   

We'll keep you posted Kaiya's condition as information comes available!

Bursting at the Seams with Great Upcoming Events!

Silly Jasper!

Are you crazy about our exotic cats and Nugget? Want to learn more about their quirky and amusing behaviors? Well, you can with these three exciting events scheduled for this month -- you simply do not want to miss out on all the fun! Create some great memories by visiting our booth at the Taste of Dallas (and sampling all the fabulous food and drinks); attend our Summer Splash event (big cats and watermelons—need we say more?); or capture some amazing pictures of our animals engaged in summertime play (or sleep as in Amol’s case). Read on to learn more!

Taste of Dallas 

Prep your palate because the 26th Annual Taste of Dallas is going to be great (and by that we mean our mere appearance alone makes this event great, right?). A slice of life in North Texas, this event will feature some of the best chefs and restaurants around –taste some tasty treats to and enjoy some music, visual arts, kids’ activities, stuff to buy and more. It all awaits you here, along with some great information about our sanctuary! 

Okay, here’s the “skinny” on this event:

What: Taste of Dallas is Dallas’ most sought-after culinary event, featuring over 60 restaurants and showcasing Dallas’ top chefs. 

Where: Taste of Dallas is held in Fair Park, located in the heart of Dallas. 277 acres of museums, attractions, history, art and performance. 3600 Grand Avenue, Dallas, TX 75210

When: July 13-15, 2012 Hours: Friday: 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Website: http://tasteofdallas.org/

Most importantly, we will be located in the Centennial Hall Building, so please stop by and say "hi" to our hard working crew manning the In-Sync Exotics' booth! 

Summer Splash 

If you enjoyed last years' Pumpkin Bash event, watching our tigers and the lions tearing into their pumpkins, then you're going to love Summer Splash! Come out and watch our cats enjoy some cool watermelons on Saturday, July 21, 2012 starting at 11:00am. To view or print our flier for this event, please click HERE! 

Our Wild Cats are Ready for Their Close-up Shots! 

In-Sync Exotics is excited to offer professional and amateur photographers the opportunity to photograph our exotics wild animals in a natural and semi-natural background. Capture those special moments as our wild ones splash in their pools, play with their toys on the playground, or just coming up to greet you, up close and personal! We cater to small groups with only 15 reservations available for the spring, summer, and fall photo shoots; however, we must have at least 10 people scheduled in order for the private photography session to take place. Our spring photo session is scheduled for July 29, 2012 from 7:30am – 11:30am. 

What to expect during your photography shoot 

All participants will receive an orientation prior to breaking out into small groups with two volunteer animal caretakers per group. Our goal is to allow you to photograph our animals without the double barrier hindering your view. If you have professional photo equipment you can focus past single cage wire if the cat is far enough from the side of the enclosure. If you are using amateur photo equipment, you may have single cage wire in some of your photographs. Our animals always come first—we do not force our animals to perform, but allow them to act naturally in their own environment. If one of our cats is not in the mood to be photographed (for instance hiding in her den), then the small group will have to move on to the next animal. Some of our smaller cats can be rather shy and elusive, so we cannot guarantee you will get a great shot of all our wild ones, but we will give it our best effort to quietly encourage our shy ones to come out and greet you! 

This event is by appointment only. Please email Lynne for info on availability, waiting list, payment options and details about the shoot. The cost for the private photo shoot tour is $100 per photographer. Prices and terms subject to change without notice. You do not want to miss this opportunity to take some fabulous photos of our animals! With the weather a little cooler in the mornings, we feel confident that you will walk away with some of the most amazing pictures of our animals waking up and playing! So sign up today and we’ll see you on July 29, 2012! To view or print our flier for this event, please click HERE! 

Last, but not least, we are now on... Pinterest! You can find us HERE! What is Pinterest? Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. We'll be posting cool pictures not seen this blog, so we can keep this site fresh. We've placed a few pictures to on the board to get the ball rolling. We hope you'll enjoy seeing us on this social website!

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Two Special and Handsome Tigers

We hope you enjoy this special blog featuring two brothers, who came from the same failed roadside wildlife park in 2003, but arrived at In-Sync Exotics nine years apart.

So let’s start at the beginning as we introduce you to Midas! In February of 2003, In-Sync Exotics spearheaded a rescue of 33 tigers from a roadside wildlife park. At the time of the rescue, we only had room to accept three tigers—Raja, Jasmine and Midas.  We wanted to keep Tyjar, Midas’ brother, but we simply did not have the funds to care for four tigers.

So, Raja, Jasmine, and Midas were transported to In-Sync Exotics on February 10, 2003 and on that same day, we transported Midas’s brother, Tyjar, to a friend’s facility in Scurry TX.  When we said our good-byes to Tyjar it was a bitter sweet moment for us all. We knew that Tyjar would have a good home and that he would be loved; we just hated splitting up the brothers whom had lived next to each other in their old location for the past five years.

We were blessed to have Midas with us for eight years.  He was a very smart, inquisitive tiger, who loved to play in the water!  Whenever he received a new toy enriched with a scent he would give you the biggest smile you have ever seen. His favorite toy was his large barrel which he dragged all over his cage and even into his den. Midas had many cute antics that always delighted the volunteers and visitors.  One of his most memorable antics was to play “embarrassed” by putting his paws over his face, rolling around and moaning to the glee of his “audience!”

Handsome Midas crossed the Rainbow Bridge on April 25, 2011 after a long battle with skin cancer.  The type of cancer Midas had was extremely aggressive.  He underwent three types of chemotherapy and for awhile, it appeared the cancer went into remission.  For the next 2 1/2 years, we thought Midas beat the cancer, until it came back with a vengeance and this time the cancer was not limited to his skin--it was now in his blood.  Midas was so weak from the cancer that we had to make the difficult decision to quietly let him go. 

While we mourned the loss of Midas, fate took an unusual twist--who would have guessed that about nine months later we would receive a special request from Tyjar’s owner, asking if we would be willing to take Tyjar on a permanent basis?  Our hearts jumped with joy at the opportunity of giving Midas’ brother a new forever home with us!

For the past nine years, Tyjar traveled the United States as a circus star.  Each time we checked in on Tyjar, we saw a happy, well-adjusted tiger.  Up until recently, Tyjar enjoyed working with the other performing cats. However, about a month ago that changed. Two younger females took it upon themselves to start “bullying” Tyjar during playtime. As this behavior escalated some of the older tigers joined in.  As Tyjar started showing signs of stress, our friend made a difficult, loving decision.  He felt a change in location where he could spend the rest of his life with his birth mother and sister, Jasmine and Samu, would be best.

Tyjar relaxing in the playground

On January 20, with tears of sadness and joy at both facilities, Tyjar was moved to his new home at In-Sync Exotics and reunited with his family.  We just wished Midas had lived long enough to see and play with Tyjar again.

What makes these two cats very special is that there are not many "strawberry" colored tigers left in captivity, which is estimated around 30 or less, and the last wild "golden tabby tiger" was shot outside of Mysore Pradesh, India in the early 20th century.

The golden tiger, golden tabby tiger or strawberry tiger is an exotic cat with an extremely rare color variation caused by a recessive gene and is currently only found in captive tigers.  Like our white tigers, Harley and Kazuri, they are not considered a separate species of tiger.  In the case of the golden tiger, this genetic variation is the wide band gene; while the white tiger is due to the color inhibitor gene.  

The first recorded golden tiger cub born in captivity was in 1983 and the offspring came from two standard-colored Bengal tigers, both of whom carried the recessive genes for both the golden tiger and white colors. The cub was born at Dr. Josip Marcan's Adriatic Animal Attractions in Deland, Florida.

So not only is Tyjar a rare colored tiger, but he is so darn handsome too! Let's take a look at Midas and Tyjar, side by side so you can see how handsome our golden tigers look--together at last.

We hope you enjoyed today's special feature and we hope you will join us tomorrow for more information about out exotic cats and Nugget (of course)!

We'd love to hear from you, so feel free comment and don't forget to click on one of the reaction buttons below. And as always, don't forget to share your favorite blog postings with family and friends! Thank you!

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We Have Some Good News and Some Sad News...

It's been a while since we've provided you an update on Nugget, our honorary cat, who underwent treatment for a nasty rash that started on his hind quarters and continued to spread to other parts of his body earlier this year.

We first reported Nugget's trip to the vet earlier this year (Nugget's Day at the Vet) with a follow-up posting three months ago (Our Week in Review) highlighting the challenges of treating this stubborn coatimundi.

We temporarily housed Nugget is a quarantine cage so we could administer his expensive bi-weekly long-lasting antibiotic shots ($250 a piece) for about a month.  One of the side affects of his medicine was fur loss.  On the plus side, our naked Nugget was more frisky and up to his old antics, all thanks to his medication!

Nugget's fur is slowly growing back.  To give you an idea of how fast his fur is growing, we've included a couple of pictures taken at the 2012 Birthday Bash and a couple of pictures taken yesterday:

And as of yesterday...

We are very grateful Nugget is on the mend and back to his old self of tormenting the volunteers!  Good boy, Nugget, good boy!

Farewell to a Special Family Member

It is with a heavy heart we share with you some very sad news.  On June 22, 2012, Missy, beloved horse of Vicky Keahey and companion animal to In-Sync Exotics' horse, Twiggy, quietly passed away of old age. 

Missy, born in 1978, was Vicky's long-time companion horse for 33 years and for the last 5 years she was also Twiggy's friend and constant companion. Missy is remembered as a beautiful and loving horse who liked to spend her time around the Keahey home, looking for family companionship and treats.

We all miss Missy very much as she was often found watching the volunteers in the hopes of receiving a treat or two from us.  Even though she did not officially belong to In-Sync Exotics, she was definitely part of our family.

Here are a few pictures of Missy, as we celebrate her life.  May she find ever lasting peace this side of Heaven, at a place call the Rainbow Bridge...

Missy (left), Vicky and Justin (center), and Missy's older sister

Missy, Justin and Vicky!

Vicky and Missy

Missy looking for treats

Twiggy saying "hello" to Missy's memorial

Missy will always be remembered...

This video, which first aired on this blog on January 20, 2012, is of Missy rolling around on the ground while Twiggy stood nearby watching her companion's antics.  This is how we will remember her -- Missy living life to the fullest without a care in the world!

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