Our Weekly Roundup!

Now that spring break is over, we can catch our breath until the week of April 7th, when we hope to be very, very busy with our Easter celebration!

Let's catch up on this week's events:

Monday, we announced new and very special "Feed Tours" beginning on April 19th!  You don't want to miss this "bone crunching" tour, so make your reservations today! 

 

Observe our exotic wild animal keepers feed lions, tigers, cougars, bobcats, and more from just a few feet away. Throughout the feeding process, our keepers will give you some behind the scene information about our wild cats such as diet, special care (our geriatric cats), and our animals’ favorite foods. You will also be able to have short informal and informational cat chat sessions with our keepers. 

 

The Feeding Tours will be available on the third Thursday of each month, so if you miss the April 19th tour, you can catch the next one in May, June, July...!

We also announced that our wild cats are ready for their close-up shots on April 29th!  Professional and amateur photographers will have 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!   Make your reservations today as only 15 lucky people will be able to amazing pictures of our animals!

 

On Monday afternoon, we announced that we were nominated and selected as a finalist in the Cold-EEZE $1,000 give-a-way! 

 

But we need YOUR help to secure the first place title!  All you have to do is vote for us and then encourage your friends and family members to do the same!

Here is the link to the voting page!

http://www.facebook.com/ColdEEZE?sk=app_215117178528798

From March 19, 2012 through April 1, 2012, Cold-EEZE Facebook fans can cast up to 5 votes per day! So start voting, please!

Now it may appear we are ahead right now, but we all know how that can change "on a dime."  So please continue to vote (5x) per day for In-Sync Exotics!  Your vote DOES count!

 

On Tuesday, we celebrated an amaz-ing anniversary! If you haven't seen the pictures or read this posting, you must go to this page to see what a difference love and attention can make in the lives of three precious wild animals!

 

Have you ever heard of anyone blood typing a wild cat before?  Well, we are!  Read all Wednesday's blog posting about exotic wild cat blood typing and why we decided to do so!  PLUS you'll meet our smallest rescue ever!! 

 

Did you know we are on Twitter!  We posts tibbets about our animals' care and routines, plus lots of pictures and now videos you won't see anywhere else!  So come Twitter with us @Insync_Exotics!  Or you could simply click on our Twitter Feed button at the top of the blog page to keep up with the latest wild cat news!

 

 

And did you know that Nadia recently had tooth surgery? You can read all about her trip to the vet in Thursday's posting titled "Nadia's Tooth Surgery!"  She had quite an adventure, but was an angle through the entire procedure.  We are so proud of Nadia!

 

We hope you enjoyed this week's blog postings and will join us again for more wild "cat tales" on Monday! Don't forget, we are open Saturday and Sunday,so come out and say "hello" to our residents and staff!  

 

Have a safe and wonderful weekend, everyone!

 

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Nadia's Tooth Surgery!

You may recall on February 23rd, Nadia was visited by our vet to determine why there was a small hole on the side of her face.  Our vet brought along his portable x-ray so he could take digital pictures of the wound.  Our vet returned to his office so he could review the pictures he had taken of our ailing Nadia.

Nadia’s x-rays revealed she had a tooth (T-3) on the right side of her face that was not healthy and it needed to be extracted. 

So yesterday morning, we transported Nadia from In-Sync Exotics to her vet’s office which is located only a few miles away from us.






Shortly after our arrival to our veterinarian's office, Nadia was prepped and ready for surgery.

Nadia's surgery went very well.  The total time it took to remove the tooth was about an hour and a half and there was a minor complication as her tooth just didn't want to come out.  Our vet had to slice the tooth and then grind out the broken pieces.

Once the anesthia reversal drugs were administered, a groggy Nadia slowly woke up, missing one tooth.  She was an absolute angel through the entire procedure!

When Nadia's vet gave us the green light, we took our patient home to fully recover.

Now that her tooth has been extracted, Nadia's facial wound should heal on its own.  We estimate that it will take about 4-6 weeks for the facial wound to completely heal and the tooth hole about 10 days to close.

No doubt, our Nadia is much happier without her nagging tooth problem. Ever since she was two months old (prior to her arrival at In-Sync Exotics), Nadia had a lot of prexisting problems with her teeth.  Once her baby teeth dropped out and her adult teeth grew in, she hasn't had any dental issues until now.   

Our girl was reunited with her cage mates, Mohan, Saber, Lucca, and Emma and everyone is now doing great!

We hope you enjoyed today's posting of Nadia's trip to the vet! Be sure to record your reactions by clicking on one of our reaction buttons below. Don't forget to share this blog with your family, friends and co-workers. And don't forget to check us out on Twitter as we "twitter" special animal tibits throughout the week! 

We just added a video to Twitter on our tiniest animal rescue ever! 

P.S. 

Here is the link to the voting page! You know what to do!

http://www.facebook.com/ColdEEZE?sk=app_215117178528798

From March 19, 2012 through April 1, 2012, Cold-EEZE Facebook fans can cast up to 5 votes per day! So start voting, please! Thank you!

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Blooding Typing Our Wild Ones!

Just like in humans, captive exotic wild animals sometimes require blood transfusions.  Unlike humans, dogs and cats, blood banks do not store blood for exotics such as tigers, lions, cougars, bobcats and servals.

Do wild cats have more than one blood type? Yes!  The AB system is the major blood group system in exotic and domestic cats. For all practical purposes, cats are considered to have two blood groups: A and B. The third blood group, AB, is very rare in cats. As with humans, when giving a transfusion, the blood groups must be matched otherwise the cat's antibodies will destroy the alien blood cells.

Cats with blood type-A have naturally occurring anti-B antibodies at a low titer and cats with blood type-B have naturally occurring anti-A antibodies at a high titer. 

Cats with the rare "AB" type do not have anti-A or anti-B antibodies and are thus universal recipients for blood transfusion. It should be noted that the nomenclature of cat blood groups is confusing; the "AB" type is not the result of presence of the A and B blood groups!

Interesting to note, there is not a lot of information available on the subject of “blood typing exotic wild cats” on the Internet.  There was one article, published by the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, in 1999 titled “The AB Blood Group System in Wild Felids” that published the study results of blood typing 131 exotics wild cats belonging to 26 felid species.  

The results were quite interesting:  80% of the wild cats were type-A, 18% were type-B, and only 2% were type-AB.  Cougars, African and Asian golden cats were type-B and the other species were found to be type-A.  Two cheetahs and one bobcat had the rare AB-type blood. 

So far, reports of exotic wild animals receiving or donating blood is rare (however there are a lot of reports of Charlie Sheen’s tiger blood quote on the web…go figure). We found two articles on the Internet that pertained to this particular subject:    Tiger Cub Receives Rare Blood Transfusion (2008) and Cougar Xavier is a One-Cat Blood Bank (1984). 

So why is blood typing important to In-Sync Exotics?  Well, if one of our wild ones requires a transfusion during surgery, for instance, it is important to confirm that both the blood donor and the recipient have the same blood types; otherwise the recipient’s antibodies will destroy the alien blood cells.  Medical reasons that may require a blood transfusion includes hemolytic anemia, cancer, and liver/kidney disease.  

In memory of Midas, we blood tests
all our cats.

Last year, we started blood typing our exotic cats.  The decision to blood type all the cats  was made shortly after Midas passed away.  Had we known his blood type prior to his death, we could have tried two alternative medical treatments that may have extended his life.   

So far, we have blood type tested all the tigers (except Abrams, Apollo, and Kaiya), three lions, three cougars, and both leopards.  Interesting to note, our non-native species (tigers, lions, and leopards) are all type-A and the cougars (native species) are type-B.  We are very curious to see what blood types our cheetahs and bobcats are as they may have the rare AB-type blood.

We will continue to test all the cats and record our findings in their medical records.  Hopefully, we will never have to use this information, but if we do, at least we will be prepared!

"I am blood type-A!"

 Oh, and on a quick side note, most domestic non-purebred cats in the United States are type-A.  Blood type-A and -B frequencies in domestic short- and longhair cats vary from country to country; some countries have only type A cats, whereas others may have as many as 50% type-B cats. Furthermore, blood type frequencies vary between breeds; for example the Siamese and some related breeds have only blood type-A, while other breeds may have as many as half and half As and Bs (eg, Turkish Angora and Van).

A Very Tiny Rescue

If you are an In-Sync Exotics' Twitter fan, you received a "tweet" yesterday morning about our latest rescue. 

Last week, we told you about our smallest rescue--a little baby squirrel.  Well, this week we have an even smaller rescued animal...

...a baby raccoon!

Details on this little guy or gal will be posted on Twitter!  So tweet with us @Insync_Exotics!  You can see more cute photos of this little baby raccoon on Twitter! 

Not twittering?  Well, you can read our "tweets" by clicking on our Twitter feed button found at the top of the blog page!

We hope you enjoyed today's blog posting.  Let us know what you think of today's posting by clicking on the reaction buttons below and don't forget to share the blog with others by clicking on our share buttons!  Thank you!

PS... Don't forget to vote!

Great news! Supporters of In-Sync Exotics nominated us for the Cold-EEZE $1,000 give-a-way! We were chosen as a finalist!

Now here's your opportunity to help us win this month's donation. All you have to do is vote for us and then encourage your friends and family members to do the same!

Here is the link to the voting page!

http://www.facebook.com/ColdEEZE?sk=app_215117178528798

From March 19, 2012 through April 1, 2012, Cold-EEZE Facebook fans can cast up to 5 votes per day! So start voting, please! Thank you!

Let us know what your reaction was to this posting by clicking on one of the reaction buttons below and don’t forget to share it with your family, friends, and co-workers by using the share buttons below. Thank you!

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