Wow! What a Week!

Wow!  What an exciting week!  Before we share the final Donor Bridge donation totals with you, we must do a quick recap of this week's events!

On Monday, we introduced you to our new "cub" reporter, Jessica Helmholtz and quizzed our readers on the identity of the tiger who primarily starred in our new video, "Swimming with Tigers" (click HERE to read this posting)!

On Tuesday, we provided a medical update on Saber and Kazuri, two tigers who had some "tummy problems" and we revealed the identify of the tiger who starred in our new video, "Swimming with Tigers." we tried, unsuccessfully, to wake up Sabu to let him know that our Fall Photo Shoot is coming up!  Click HERE to read our posting!

Wednesday's blog posting was rather challenging for some of our readers, as we posed the question -- Who Am I? x 4 (plus we included a little education on "tiger stripes, click HERE).  We had a lot of submissions, but the first person who correctly identified all  four tigers was Lynn McCarthy!  Congratulations Lynn -- if you are interested in the small prize, please let us know via email!  There were four other people who correctly guessed the tigers identities  (Kelli, Lark (she took the pictures), Sara, and Keri), so next time we'll have to step up the Who Am I? and make it even more challenging!

So let's take a look at our mystery tigers once more!



Hello Apollo!

Top of the morning to you, Stryker!

Looking good, Iona!

Greetings Abrams!

Yesterday, we put out an appeal (click HERE), explaining why the Donor Bridge one day donation event and the iGive Program was important to In-Sync Exotics.  Bottom line:  without the generosity of our supporters, like you, we simply could not provide a loving home for the exotic animals that need us the most. 

Within the first hour of the event, 13 donors stepped forward and donated $745 to the animals and by the end of the standard lunch hour (1:00pm) over 117 people donated $9,555!  This was absolutely amazing considering we raised only $3,308 last year!

The final donation total for 2012 came to $18,287!!!

We are overcome with gratitude to the 234 donors who contributed $18,287, so we can continue our mission of providing a safe and loving home for our animals! We don't know what the matching monies will be until Donor Bridge performs the final calculations, but as soon as we hear from them we will post the results on this blog.  The matching dollars will go towards the Big Cats Need Dental Care Too fundraiser!

This truly makes our "Happy Cat Month"!  Really!  September just happens to be "Happy Cat Month" and there's no doubt that we have a lot of happy cats at In-Sync Exotics!

We hope you enjoyed this week's blog posting and will join us again next week for more informative, funny, and interesting blog postings on our wild ones! Remember, we are open for tours Thursday - Friday until October 1st (that is when we change to our Fall/Winter weekend only hours), so we look forward to your visit!  

Once Again, Thank You Very Much 
For Your Generosity!

We Need Your Help!

Here is our direct link to our Donor Bridge page: Click HERE.

Greetings from Wylie, Texas everyone! We'd planned to share with you a powerful conservation story with you today, but decided to put it on hold for now because we really need your help today.


In-Sync Exotics exists thanks to the vision of one woman and funding support of a lot of loyal In-Sync supporters.  Without you, there would be no special place where exotic cats, like Sabu, could live out his final years in peace.  As a loyal blog reader, you know we took several cats (exotic and domestic) to the vet this year, purchased a lot of medicine (like Nugget's expensive shot treatments), and placed our cats on special diets (like our senior and geriatric cats).  When you add up all the bills together, including our normal operations costs (food, treats, enrichment, office bills, employee costs, etc.), our expenditures can be rather daunting! 

Thanks to your kind donations, we are able to accept and care for animals that had no where else to go this year, like Gideon and Jasper!  We are hoping we can count on you once more to help us raise funds for our operating costs plus a little something extra to go towards our big cats that require dental care.

Today, from 7 a.m. to midnight, In-Sync Exotics is participating in Get Up and Give! North Texas Giving Day. On this day only, every donation $25 and above will be multiplied if you donate to us through www.DonorBridgeTX.  We plan to apply the matching funds received from the Donor Bridge towards our cats' dental care.

Here is our direct link to our Donor Bridge page: Click HERE.

Last year, several folks reported having difficulty donating because the Donor Bridge site was too busy. We’ve been told this year that they have fixed the problem. But just in case, may we recommend donating early in the morning or after 5:00pm, as the site seems to be free from congestion during those times!

We cannot thank you enough for your financial sacrifice, so our cats can continue to receive the best care possible.  We truly have the wonderful supporters who help us make miracles come true for animals without hope.

We recognize that there are many supporters out there who simply cannot afford to make a donation at this time--and we totally sympathize with your financial situation.  Perhaps you'd be willing to support us in a way that would not cost you a dime?

Tomorrow is the last day for folks to participate in iGive Dog Days of Summer.  The iGive Dog Days Charity Sweepstakes is a game where participants don't pay anything to play, and participants don't win anything or receive any personal benefit. Participation is free. The winners of the game are charities or causes listed at iGive (like us!). Winners are chosen at random from the entries of participants. The more entries for a particular charity or cause, the better its chances of winning the game.  So far, we only have six participants [say it isn't so!].

Click HERE to go to the Sweepstakes page!

What is iGive?

iGive.com is a unique way to support In-Sync Exotics while you shop and buy normally online:

• Over 350,000 members choose to support their cause through their iGive membership.
• Shop at over 1,000 online retail partners - many you are familiar with already - and a percentage of your purchase goes to your cause (as much as 26%).
• The average iGive shopper raises $50 per year for her cause.

Download the iGive Button

Enhance your online shopping experience with the free iGive Button. With the iGive Button, you can be sure to:

• Raise money for the animals of In-Sync Exotics with every purchase you make from over 1,000 online retail partners.
• Save money with special offers and coupons, just for being an iGive member [cha-ching!].
• Show how you support your community by sharing the Button with friends and family.

How the iGive Button Works

It's a simple, browser add-on that you download. It works with any computer (PC or Mac) and any browser type (Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome and FireFox). When you shop at one of iGive's 1,000+ online partners, the iGive Button appears in the right corner of your browser telling the retailer you are an iGive member, and alerting them to support your cause with your purchase.  Click the iGive Button to find special offers and coupons. This is a great feature because you don’t have to go to iGive.com to see if your store is on the donation list—if your store is on the list, then the iGive Button pops up automatically!

Search using Google, Yahoo, or Bing and iGive parters will be highlighted in the search results so you know where you can shop to do the most good!

Join iGive. Get the iGive Button.
Change your world, one online purchase at a time.

If at the end of the sweepstakes period you no longer want the iGive Button, you can safely remove it from your computer system.  We hope that you elect to keep the Button so you can take advantage of shopping and comparing products as well as prices and donations by store.  You will be amazed at how much money (and time) you can save by using this handy iGive Button!

Click HERE to go to the Sweepstakes page!

We'd like to thank you for your support of animals as you are the life-blood of our organization!

Thank you!

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Tiger of a Different Stripe Challenge!

Have you ever wondered why tigers have their unusual striped coat?  Through the years zoologists have come up with numerous theories and myths to explain the pattern.  The best “guess” is that the tiger coat pattern helps the cats hide from prey and protect themselves from other predators—like humans.  Most tigers have over 100 stripes and like a human’s fingerprint, the patterns on tigers are unique to each cat and can be used to identify individual animals.  The stripped pattern is also found on the skin of a tiger, thus if one were to be shaved its’ unique camouflage pattern would remain!

 

Tigers tend to prefer areas of denser vegetation, better suiting their camouflage and solo hunting style. Research indicates that animals in the wild are unable to see in color or if they do the colors are not vivid as our own.  If wild animals see in various levels of black, gray and white, the stripes on a tiger’s body probably appear as bars of shadow, allowing the big cats to hide in tall grasses. The pattern seems to help hide the tiger’s body shape and size from the animals it is stalking (yes ladies, stripes can be slimming!). 

Tigers are considered one of the best hunters in the animal world and the unique pattern of its coat may have a lot to do with this. Of course, the main factors are the tiger’s size, strength, claws, teeth and massive jaws. Add to this the speed, grace and remarkable intelligence of the cat and you have a near-perfect, deadly combination.

Let’s see if you can correctly guess the names of the tigers listed below.  To help you out, we are going to give you the names of the cats in alphabetical order.  All you have to do is assign the right name to the right picture!  This may be a tough "Who Am I" because we used pictures of tigers that look about the same, but their stripes are completely different (wouldn't it be funny if we used the same tiger in all four pictures...hmmmm).  Good luck!

 

 

 

#1 Who am I?

Abrams

Apollo

Iona

Stryker

 

 

#2 Who am I?

Abrams

Apollo

Iona

Stryker

 

#3 Who am I?

Abrams

Apollo

Iona

Stryker

  

 

#4 Who am I?

Abrams

Apollo

Iona

Stryker

 

First person to correctly identify all four tigers wins bragging rights and a small prize.  Simply send your response to our special animal email account (click HERE for the email address) and if you are the first person to correctly respond to the challenge, you win!  You'll need to include your name and address in the email so we can send you the prize!  Please do not post your guesses to Facebook or this blog posting as we don’t want to give away the answers.  We will announce the winner of this challenge on Friday! 

Donor Bridge 's"Get Up and Give!" is Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, September 13, 2012, from 7 a.m. to midnight, In-Sync Exotics is participating in Get Up and Give! North Texas Giving Day. On September 13, every donation $25 and above will be multiplied if you donate to us through www.DonorBridgeTX.org, North Texas’ online resource that connects donors with nonprofit organizations like us.  

Please visit the site anytime between 7 a.m. and midnight, search for our nonprofit and click "Donate Now." We'll also have a direct link posted on tomorrow morning's blog posting so you can make your donation without having to use the search field. Your donation will go a long way in helping us in purchase much needed food, medicine, and enrichment for the cats. Plus, gifts given that day will receive a portion of $1 million in challenge funds–making your dollar go further.  

Just remember to get up and give on September 13--whether out of bed, from your desk, or off your couch, just give!  Thank you!

 

We hope you enjoyed today's blog posting and will join us again tomorrow for another informative blog posting on our wild ones!

 

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