Our Week in Review

This has been a very busy week at In-Sync Exotics!  Let's recap, shall we?

Monday's blog posting is a twist on the traditional Labor Day holiday posting.  We didn't want to forget to recognize the contributions of our hard working dogs and cats.  To read our tribute to our furry friends, click HERE!
 

Did you see the exciting new video called "Swimming with Tigers" that premiered on Tuesday?  This video broke all previous In-Sync Exotics' video records, no small part due to our loyal fans!  Thank you very much for sharing this video with your friends, family, and co-workers.  To see this amazing video again, click HERE.

As you know, we love featuring our animals in our daily postings, and this week was no exception!  On Wednesday, we posed the question "Have you Met [our beautiful girl] Jynxie Yet?"  Jynxie was born at a sanctuary in 1998 in Mississippi where.... (Click HERE to read the rest of her story)


Did you know that big cats can have "tummy problems" too?  When our cats have tummy problems, they have TUMMY PROBLEMS, and so it's our job to make sure we identify and treat their problems.  We are currently treating two big cats with stomach problems... (click HERE to read the rest of the story)

 

Cheetahs' "Fast Track Habitat" Update!

We are very excited with the delivery of the stone material we're using for the cheetahs' new house!  Thanks to our kind donors, the cheetahs will soon enjoy a new habitat.  We are getting that much closer toward our big grand opening of this new area.  As soon as we have an idea when we'll be nearing completion of this project, we will let everyone know! 

 

 

RAZOO and Donor Bridge

Did you know that we need your help raising funds for five big cats requiring dental care?  (click HERE to see the RAZOO "Big Cats Need Dental Care Too") 

 

As you can imagine, our over enthusiastic tigers and lions love to play a little rough. Sometimes, a little too rough, resulting in fractured canine teeth! Our big cats' teeth serve an important function in their lives and it is beneficial to surgically save them.

 

Unfortunately, the type of surgery our big cats require is rather expensive. We need your help!

We have four tigers and one lion, requiring root canal therapy and one tiger requiring root canal therapy and a tooth extraction. Our vet has examined all five big cats to ensure their broken canines did not pose an immediate health risk. Even still our vet recommends our big cats undergo root canal therapy as soon as possible in order to avoid possible future infections.

 

We would like to thank the 15 donors who contributed $960 towards our goal of $10,000.  We have a ways to go before we reach our $10k, but we are hopeful that we'll raise enough funds to take our cats to veterinarian who specializes in exotic cat dental care before Thanksgiving.  Won't you help our big cats receive the dental care they need?  A minimum donation of $10 will definitely help, so please consider making a kind donation today! Thank you!

 

This year, we plan to apply the matching funds from the Donor Bridge towards our cats' dental care.  To learn more about the Donor Bridge event, please click HERE. 

 

We hope you enjoyed this week's blog posting and will join us again next week for more informative, funny, and interesting blog postings of our wild ones! Remember, we are open for tours Thursday - Friday, so we look forward to your visit! Be safe and have a great weekend!

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Big Cats With Stomach Problems

Yep, even big cats can get stomach aches now and then.  It's our job to make sure we identify and treat our cats accordingly whenever they experience these "tummy problems."

We are currently treating two big cats with stomach problems--Saber and Kazuri.

We noticed Saber was having some problems holding down food starting last week so we gave her a little bit of vasoline with her meat in the hopes that it would help solve her tummy condition.  When that didn't work, it was time to see if there was a medical related problem why our girl was not keeping all her food down.  Blood was drawn and she was given Famotidine and a bit more vasoline in the hopes this would cure her problem.  We had to put the vasoline on her body because whatever was upsetting her stomach caused her to stop eating.

Well, it wasn't long before 4 lbs of meaty "mass" exited her body.  We're not sure yet if her stomach troubles are cured, but we do know that the blood test results were negative for any infections or complications.  So now we watch and wait and see if her health improves.  If we don't see an improvement by Friday, Saber will be taking a trip to Texas A&M  University College of Veterinary Medicine for a more thorough exam.  We will keep you updated on her progress!

In Kazuri's case, our boy vomited one time per day for the last three days.  Again, vasoline and Famotidine was administered to our sick tiger.  It wasn't long before Kazuri "pooped out" what we believed was bothering his stomach -- a large piece of neck bone!  
Kazuri is not 100% feeling better yet, but we have high hopes he will be feeling back to his normal self in no time at all.  We also drew some blood to see if there was something else standing in the way of our tiger's great health and the results was good -- no infections or complications.  So once again we'll wait and see if his health improves over the next couple of day.  We will keep you posted on our boy's progress!

Donor Bridge Time!

2012 North Texas Giving Day is
September 13, 2012 ~ 7:00 a.m. to midnight

Click here to see nearly 1,000 nonprofits you can donate to on Giving Day!

$1MM in Matching Funds and Prizes!

Matching Funds

Every donation of $25 and above made 7am-Midnight through DonorBridgeTX.org on September 13, 2012 will be matched by some percentage!

$97,000 in Prizes

·       Top 2 nonprofits with an operating budget under $1 million with most donations from unique donors: 1^st: $10,000 and 2^nd: $5,000

·       Top 2 nonprofits with an operating budget over $1 million for most donations from unique donors: 1^st: $10,000 and 2^nd: $5,000

·       1,929th donation: $10,000

·        2,012th donation: $10,000

·       Nonprofit with an operating budget of under $1 million that has the largest increase in number of unique donors from 2011 (repeat participants only [that’s us!]): $10,000

·        Nonprofit with an operating budget of over $1 million that has the largest increase in number of unique donors from 2011 (repeat participants only): $10,000

·        Golden Tickets every hour: $1,000/hour drawn randomly from the nonprofits who received donations during that hour

·       Tarrant County Challenge: Every nonprofit in Tarrant County that receives 31 donations or more will be entered to win $10,000

Donations for Giving Day will be accepted through www.DonorBridgeTX.org only on September 13 from 7:00 a.m. to Midnight!

This year, we plan to apply the matching funds towards our "Big Cats Need Dental Too" Razoo project.  We hope you can count on your support again this year as monies raised by the Donor Bridge helps us pay for much needed supplies, like healthy meals, medication, enrichment, plus dental care for the cats!!  

More details on this great event will be revealed as we get closer to the BIG DAY! 

Please share this blog posting with your friends, family, and co-workers via Facebook, Twitter and email (see share buttons below) and ask them to share with their family, friends, and co-workers. Oh, and don't forget to click on the reaction buttons below! Thank you!
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Have you Met Jynxie Yet?

We'd like to thank everyone who shared "Swimming with Tigers" video yesterday to family, friends, and co-workers.  If you would like to see this video again along with others Barry Stevenson produced for In-Sync Exotics, then click HERE.  He really does a terrific job capturing the spirit and energy of In-Sync Exotics -- thank you very much, Barry!

Today, we're featuring Jynxie, a lioness with an unusual history:

 

Jynxie was born at a sanctuary in 1998 in Mississippi where her parents had been rescued from a very poor situation. In 2001 Jynxie and her brother, Jambo, were removed from this sanctuary and traveled to another sanctuary in Texas where they lived together until 2008. Sadly, Jambo died leaving her without lion companionship for about two years.

When her second home, the Wild Animal Orphanage (WAO), closed its doors, Jynxie needed to be relocated once again.  We were contacted a couple of times to see if we could take in some of the WAO big cats that required immediate placement, but since we were already a little crowded at the time, we had to say no.

All that changed in October, for you see, on October 28, 2010 we were left with a huge vacant hole in both our hearts and one of our lion enclosures by the passing of our beloved Malikai. Not only were we left with this sadness, but Malikai left behind a brother, Dinari, whom now would have to live the rest of his life alone. We contacted the WAO to see if they still needed to place any of their female lions, and as fate would have it, they still needed a home for Jynxie!

On November 12th we brought Jynxie home. When she first arrived, we couldn't help but notice she look a little thin and her coat did not look so good.

Jynxie when she first arrived at In-Sync Exotics - November 2010

Our girl looking a little thin upon arrival

Jynxie was very unsure of her new surroundings when she first arrived.

Once Jynxie felt more at home with us, we were able to pair her and Dinari for a short time.  They were only together for a couple of weeks before Dinari passed away on May 11,2011. 

Once again, we were faced with a lion (in this case lioness) who no longer had companionship.  So, when we learned that a geriatric lion from the WAO named Sabu needed a home, we gladly accepted the boy with high hopes that maybe Jynxie and Sabu could live together.

But alas, this pairing was not meant to be either since Jynxie was just a little too domineering towards Sabu, constantly nipping our boy on his hind quarters! Ironically, now that they are apart, we often catch the pair sharing glances across the playground and Jynxie still gets excited whenever she spies Sabu playing with his red ball!  Silly girl!

Even though the two cats cannot live together, they seem to be enjoying all the attention they receive from  their big cat neighbors or human caretakers.  Jynxie happens to live next to the White Boys and we often see her teasing the boys when they pass nearby on their way to the playground. And Sabu just loves playing with his enrichment items on the playground to the delight of on-lookers!  

Hello gorgeous Jynxie!

She is no longer unsure about her new surroundings!
In-Sync Exotics is now her HOME!

Our girl has filled out and her coat looks absolutely beautiful!

We hope you enjoy this video of our gorgeous girl receiving her enrichment! Doesn't she look g-o-o-d?

Please share this blog posting with your friends, family, and co-workers via Facebook, Twitter and email (see share buttons below) and ask them to share with their family, friends, and co-workers. We really want a lot of people to see this video, so if you liked it, please let us know with your comments below and don't forget to click on the reaction buttons! Thank you!

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Swimming with Tigers - Exceptional New In-Sync Exotics' Video!

Welcome back, everyone!  We hope you had a safe and fun Labor Day weekend!  So?  Are you ready to be astounded by our new feature video?

We thrilled to present to you another exceptional video from Barry Stevensons.  Barry is the genius behind our videos "Our Story," "A New Toy," "Snack Cam," and "Tyjar's Play Cam."  

Once again, he has created a fantastic new video, taking you into the tiger's world at In-Sync Exotics.

Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, we are proud to present "Swimming With Tigers!"

We would love to see this video go viral, but we need your help to do so! 

Please share this blog posting with your friends, family, and co-workers via Facebook, Twitter and email (see share buttons below) and ask them to share with their family, friends, and co-workers.  We really want a lot of people to see this video, so if you liked it, please let us know with your comments below and don't forget to click on the reaction buttons!  Thank you!

Celebrating Our Hard Working Animals on Labor Day!

Today’s blog posting is a twist on the traditional Labor Day holiday posting.  While we celebrate the working man and woman on this day, we often forget to recognize the contributions of our hard working dogs and cats.

Katy and our domestic cats found their calling at In-Sync Exotics.  They never filled out an employment application, nor did they have to sit through job interviews, and yet they are our key “employees.”  At first we didn’t always appreciate the value of our non-traditional furry “employees” until they sauntered in our sanctuary and showed us how invaluable their services were to our operation.

Katy enjoying a treat!

We love our furry “employees” because they don’t mind working nights, weekends, and holidays.  They are never late to work because they live at the sanctuary, and we don’t have to pay them any overtime – just lots of good food and treats!

Here are just some of the roles are furry ones play at In-Sync Exotics:

Greeter: Katy and a few of our domestic cats have taken on this role.  Some of our cats are fairly nonchalant about this duty, just a simple meow from their lounging place will do.  While others take their greeting job very seriously by giving our visitors’ legs and feet a full-body rub.

Public Relations: This is one of the most important dog and cat jobs. Once our visitors meets Katy and our cat crew, they are more inclined to return once again.  

Pest Control: No one can do this job like our cats. Mice are not good for sanctuaries, so are our cats are happy to perform the task of ousting the unwanted critters.

Rebok taking a quick cat nap before
resuming his duties!

Office Assistant: Our cats are drawn to computer keyboards, monitors, scanners, copiers and fax machines, making the office area an ideal working environment. Unfortunately, their typing skills are fairly lame, but their ability to stop someone from typing is quite good, thus helping Vicky avoid carpel tunnel syndrome.

Franklin supervising the cheetah
habitat construction!

Supervisor: Cats are excellent at sitting and monitoring situations, quietly, keeping most of their comments to themselves. Their ability to move around quickly and quietly makes them well suited for seeing to it that our staff and volunteers are doing their jobs correctly.

Inspector: Most humans don’t realize how important it is to have every delivery sniffed and marked which is why Katy and our cats accepted this duty. Once deliveries are given a proper nasal inspection and marked with their stamp of approval, then it’s ok for packages to remain on the premise.

Shoes on patrol!

Security: Katy and the cats are good judges of character. If someone does not pass our animals’ “inspection,” we take heed.  Plus our cats love to roam the property at night, ensuring wild critter (possums, raccoon, squirrels, etc.) are kept at bay.

Our domestic animals serve a purpose beyond being adorable, and the best part about our furry “employees” is that we don’t have to file a W-2 with the IRS on their behalf!

We hope you have a tiger-fic Labor Day!  Be safe and don’t forget to join us again for a wonderful Tuesday surprise!

We humbly thank you in advance on behalf for helping our beautiful cats stay happy and healthy!  We hope you enjoyed today's blog posting and will join us again tomorrow for more news and updates on our wild ones! Don't forget to let us know your reaction to this posting by clicking on one of the reaction buttons below--and share this blog posting with others please ~ Thank you!

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