Interns, Tiger, Lion, and .... Surprise!

We have lots of exciting news to share with you today!  First off, we have an introduction to make!

Please welcome to the In-Sync Exotic’s family, our new Intern as of December 12^th, Kimi Frazier!  Kimi is currently attending Southern Illinois University and expects to graduate in May 2014 with a Major in Zoology and a Minor in Animal Biology.  While this is her first internship, she is no stranger when it comes to working around animals, as she is also volunteers at the Dallas Zoo since January 2012.  While she is interning with us, the Dallas Zoo will hold her volunteer spot until she returns!

So if you should see Kimi, out and about at In-Sync Exotics, be sure to give her a warm welcome!

Remember our 2012 fall intern, Julie Vrla, who finished her internship with us earlier this month?  Well, she has a great video of her working with Kazuri!  It is very important that our staff, interns, and senior volunteers work with our cats, so they feel comfortable around us when we need to perform simple medical procedures such as taking the cat's temperature, giving shots, drawing blood, performing skin biopsies and perform visual examinations, all without having to anesthetize the cat.  Julie shows us how the cats are trained to perform simple tasks that may be life-saving some day!

So without further ado, here's Julie working with handsome Kazuri!

It takes a lot of time and patience to work with the cats, but the rewards are worth all the hard work.  Thank you, Julie for sharing this video with our fans! 

Time for a medical update on Aramis...

Today, Aramis will be making a clinic visit so our vet can perform a sonogram, endoscope, and take x-rays to find out why our boy is still having trouble holding down food.  He was eating fine for about 10 days, then for some unexplained reason, he starting throwing up his meals.  Last Thursday, our vet paid a "house-call" to see how Aramis was doing.  We agreed that Aramis should eat four times per day, feeding him about 1 - 1 1/2 pounds of meat per meal. Aramis seems to be able to handle small amounts of food, but is unable to hold down larger meals.  When he still had trouble holding down the small amounts of food on a regular basis, we decided it was time for Aramis to see the vet at the clinic so a more thorough exam could be performed.

We will keep you apprised of Aramis medical progress as news comes available.  Please say a little prayer for our boy's swift recovery!

In the meantime, we have a special surprise for you today! 

Meet Matthew, Mark, and Luke!  These three babies are from Frisco, Texas. Sad to report—local homeowners saw that the mother bobcat had been hit by a car, leaving her babies all alone.  Fortunately, they had an idea where the mother kept her kittens, so they were able to find, retrieve, and take them to Collin County Animal Control.  Thankfully, Collin County Animal Control knew to bring the little guys to us, so we could help find them a more permanent solution to their short-term care needs.

These little guys did not stay with us very long because they were young enough to be rehabilitated and hopefully released back to the wild.  After spending a quiet night with us, exercising their little claws on our legs, and listening to us provide “wise” bobcat guidance on how to survive in the wild, it was time to give them a kiss good-bye the next day.  The bobcats were picked-up by our friends at Plano ISD Holifield Science Learning Center where they will work with the little guys until it’s time to release them.

We hope you enjoy this video of the little ones eating their dinner...

and this video of the little ones resting for the evening...

...aren't they adorable?  Hopefully in about six or seven months they will be running and playing, wild and free again.  Until that time, we hope Matthew, Mark, and Luke will remember our words of wisdom and live long and happy lives!

We hope you enjoyed today's blog posting! Be sure to check back tomorrow for more fun and informative information about our exotic cats and their friends of In-Sync Exotics! 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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Cougar, Cheetah, Tiger, Oh My!

Last week we reported on Twitter that we were very worried about Keenan, one of our geriatric cougars.  You may recall in our posting titled "Keenan's Heart," our cougar was diagnosed in September 2010 with Dilated Cardiomyopathy, and then recently with Cardiac Dysrhythmia (also known as arrhythmia). Sadly, the side effects of his medication is causing him kidney and liver problems, which is affecting his appetite and behavior.

So last week, when Keenan stopped eating for several days, we became very, very concerned.  Tweets went out to our Twitter followers asking everyone to pray for Keenan's returned to good health.  On Saturday, his veterinarian visited Keenan and gave him a shot.  We didn't know if the medication would help increase his appetite; all we could do was watch and wait--again.

We were thrilled beyond belief when Keenan accepted his bone Sunday night!  Here he is eating his bone with gusto once again:

We will continue to monitor Keenan's health progress and update you on Twitter and this blog!  We are just so relieved that Keenan is eating and looking much better than he did last week.

On a lighter note, we haven't had a cheetah update in awhile, have we?  Well, here are our cheetah boys, Sam and Kodi, demonstrating how cheetahs talk to us when they are hungery!

We just love the sounds they make when they get so excited to see us at dinnertime!

So, how about you?   Do you have a special In-Sync animal that you would like to give a special "shout-out" to?"  If yes, let us know in the comment box below the reason why this animal(s) is/are special to you! 

Our final video for today features Okemo--our chief resident "chuffer."  Okemo loves to "talk" to everyone who comes to visit him--he is such a sweet tiger!

Sometimes it's hard for us to believe that Okemo was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma that spread to his jaw bone.  We compared his x-rays with that of a tiger several years younger and was stunned at how much bone loss had taken place--there really wasn't much bone left in his jaw.  Okemo has been sick for a long time, prior to his arrival at In-Sync Exotics, so we are not sure how much time he has left with us.

Knowing that each precious day with Okemo is a gift, we simply refuse to image a day when we will not longer hear him chuffing at us.  He is no doubt the sweetest tiger at In-Sync Exotics and we will continue to give him specialized care to ensure that we do not aggrevate his current health condition--that means no bones and no meat requiring him to tear or pull apart with his teeth. 

For now, we are content on sharing quality time with Okemo--and as you can see, he's loving the attention!


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Thank you everyone for your support of In-Sync Exotics—you are truly a blessing to us!

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