It's Friday And You Know What That Means--Recap!

It's Friday and you know what that means!  Time for your weekly round up with just a touch of extra news--all for you!

On Monday, we welcomed a new Intern, Gretta May Antrican, said goodbye to our Intern, Julie Vria, and introduced to you a cute video of Jasper and his blanket!  To read Monday's blog posting, please click HERE!

Tuesday's posting was a medical update on Twiggy, Moses, Aramis, Tacoma, Spike, Mohan, Aasha, and Gideon! You may recall last week we reported on animals' medical challenges incurred over the Thanksgiving Week while the blog was on "vacation." Well,  it was time to share with you their medical outcomes!  Click HERE for your medical update!

Do you have a special Home Away From Home that you can't wait to get back to each week?  Robin Gibson shares her thoughts on what it was like to return to her favorite sanctuary after being away for several months.  We are glad you are back, Robin!  To read Robin's story and our 12-days to Christmas Update, click HERE for Wednesday's blog posting! By the way, have you purchased your 2012 In-Sync Exotics calendar yet?

Yesterday, we were treated with another edition of Janis Danner's Cat-o-tonic History Tales! This time, we explored cat mythos, with a few challenges thrown in to keep us on our cat toes!  Click HERE to read the latest edition of Cat-o-tonic History Tales!

Christmas Bake Sale Update!

We have some exciting news!  As you may have noticed, our first flier included City Vet, one of our Bake Sale's returning sponsors, who has been most generous providing the big event with items to sell and give away (thank you, City Vet!).  Now two more sponsors have been added to the 2012 Christmas Bake Sale!  Let's give two paws of approval to Venable Royalty (a returning sponsor) as they will also match what we raise, dollar for dollar and to Paper Mart, first time sponsor, who has graciously given us a discount on all of our packaging we purchased from them!  To learn more about our sponsors, please click on their links below!

Visit their Facebook page at: 
https://www.facebook.com/CityVetUSA

Visit their Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/papermart

Visit their website at:  www.venableroyalty.com

This leads us to an important note:  Every dollar the 2012 Christmas Bake Sale raises, results in an automatic matching, dollar for dollar.  So if you cannot make it to the bake sale and would like to make a donation, please mail a check or money order, made out to In-Sync Exotics, to: 

Corby Bryant
 c/o Venable Royalty, Ltd

5910 North Central Expressway

Suite 1470

Dallas, Texas, 75206

Please email Corby Bryant (click HERE for email address) with any questions you may have regarding the upcoming Bake Sale! Don't forget to check out 2012 Christmas Bake Sale's blog and Pintrest pages.  Yep, the event has it own blog and Pintrest pages, so click HERE to learn more about this event and check out the tasty treats up for sale, Monday, December 17th!

Click HERE for a printable flier, ready to be displayed or given out to local businesses, co-workers, friends, and of course, family members!  Thank you for helping us make this the best Christmas Bake Sale ever!

Christmas With The Cats!

Our Christmas lights were strung with care by our hard working staff and volunteers (and they look gorgeous, if we do say so ourselves!)    The cats are frisky, enjoying the cooler air.  The sweet sounds of lions' roars can be heard everywhere.  The cider and hot chocolate is ready to be enjoyed. Alas, all that's missing from this wonderful event is...well, YOU!

Come on out tonight (Friday) or Saturday evening for a night time tour you will never forget.  And if you want to make your time with us extra special why not make a VIP Christmas With The Cats Tour reservation today!  For details and a printable flier, please click HERE!

 

Great Christmas Gifts Ideas!

Have you seen all the great gifts displayed on our on-line gift shop?  No? Well, here's your chance to check them out!  We have hoodies for people and puppies, sweatshirts, warm stadium blankets, mugs, PJs, cards, ornaments, stockings, and so much more! There's still time to mail your gifts to friends and family.  So don't delay...shop today!  Click HERE for our on-line gift ship!

We hope you enjoyed this week's blog posting! Be sure to check back next week for more fun and informative information about our exotic cats and their friends of In-Sync Exotics! We hope to see you soon as we are open for tours Friday-Sunday!  For tour information please click HERE.

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Cat-o-tonic History Tales Looks at Cat Tales!

Welcome to another edition of Janis Danner's Cat-o-tonic History Tales!  Today, we are going to explore cat mythos--and we'll present you with certain challenges.  Is it real or fake?  True or false?  Is your mind boggled yet?  No?  Well then,  you are ready to dive right into this cat tale...

Cats and especially the domestic cat have a very strong presence in the American psyche. Imagine what anthropologists will think about us when years from now they find The Cat in the Hat and Puss N Boots books! And just how will they explain that thing called a Cat’s Cradle? (The string game probably originated in China and Korea, but variations are played all over the world.)

Future archaeologists will find amazing artifacts like these photos found on the Internet and passed around on Facebook. Can you tell which are fake? Or perhaps they are all real photos?  Hmmmm...

#1 - Real or Fake?

#2 - Real or Fake?



#3 - Real or Fake?

#4 - Real or Fake?

#5 - Real or Fake?

#6 - Real or Fake?

You can find the answer at the bottom of this blog!

There are also some pretty interesting stories being told about our domestic friends. I’m sure we’ve all been told that black cats crossing our paths means bad luck; so much so that the black cat has one of the lowest adoption rates from shelters (and dogs too--guilty by association?). The history of black cats being bad luck can be traced back at least to the Middle Ages in Europe when superstitions about them caused many mass killings that had the unwanted effect of increasing the rat population and spreading the Bubonic plague. Even though there is no evidence that these practices were widespread in the British Isles, the Pilgrims brought to America a suspicion of anything deemed of the devil and were a deeply suspicious group. They viewed the black cat as a companion, or a familiar to witches. Anyone caught with a black cat would be severely punished or even killed. They viewed the black cat as part demon and part sorcery. These suspicions have been passed down from generation to generation and continue to be told. As Halloween becomes a more popular holiday in the US, the black cat gets even more of a bad rap!

In contrast, there are numerous cultural superstitions where a black cat portends good luck. Here are a few examples:

• In many Asian countries, owning a black cat today is considered lucky.
• In England, a black cat is good luck – unless you live in Yorkshire and then it is deemed bad luck!
• In Scotland, a black cat suddenly appearing on your doorstep is a sign of future prosperity.
• In the 18^th and 19^th century in Northern Europe, a fisherman’s wife would actively seek out a black cat as it was believed it would ensure her husband’s return home safely after a fishing expedition.
• In Japan, black cats are a sign of good luck. Many single women seek a black cat as this cat is believed to bring many suitors. 
• In ancient Egypt, the black cat personified the goddess Bast, and was believed to bring good fortune.

Pirates of the 19th Century believed that a black cat would bring different kinds of luck. If a black cat walks towards someone, that person will have bad luck. If a black cat walks away from someone then that person will have good luck. If a black cat walks onto a ship and then walks off it, the ship was doomed to sink on its next trip. 

In Bangladesh where there are many tigers, the widows of tiger victims though not actually called witches, are considered bad luck and are often socially ostracized and consigned to lives of loneliness and poverty. Some of these women have grouped together to form the Tiger Widow Association to try and develop new ways to make a living and push for fairer treatment.

Besides the black cat stories, we can find even more carefully crafted tales in our American mythos. An episode of Friends describes the Egyptian Hairless Cat, but have you ever seen one?  How about that special breed of Eskimo cats that are descended from a litter introduced into a refrigerated plant in Pittsburgh to kill the varmints there? And in San Francisco no cats of any breed are allowed to walk on the Golden Gate Bridge because their gait will set the bridge swinging and cause it to fall down. If you ever move to scorpion territory, make sure you get a cat as a pet because they are immune to the scorpion sting. (All were fake--urban legends and fake stories)

Here's an easy one: A cat has nine lives. (If you said true, you need to re-read the blog again--from the beginning!)

Big Cats have their share of stories also. On one travel forum, this information was shared: “Tigers only attack when your head is turned away from it, so wear one of those funny face masks on the back of your head all the time, even if there are no tigers. It may fool the odd cougar too.” (True and false)

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/05/science/face-masks-fool-the-bengal-tigers.html

It is true that tigers usually stalk their prey from behind, and it is not wise to be the last man walking single file with others down a trail. But this is an old article. The Sundarban Tiger Preserve in India actually issued masks, and for a while it seemed that tigers were tracking and stalking but not killing folk wearing masks. Tigers that had never seen this before would be wary and not attack, but more recently the tigers seem able to see through this ruse and can tell the difference between a real face and a mask.  I’m positive that In-Sync Exotic’s tigers could tell the difference, don't you?

I could not find any evidence of truth or fiction for cougars. The next time you ride a bike down a deserted Texas Hill Country trail, you might consider wearing that Halloween mask on the back of your head just in case there's a cougar stalking you!

If you are traveling in Africa, banging pots and pans will keep the lions away. (False!) Actually it might work the first time, but the lions soon figure out that it is humans without guns banging on those pots and pans, with dire outcome for the humans. (Sounds more like a dinner bell than a gun.)

Anyone who has seen Kiro react to his old keepers will know the answer to this one:  Did Christian the lion, reintegrated into the wild, really hug his owners when he was reunited with them? (True) Our Kiro never forgets!

I’m sure you all have heard similar cat stories! If myths, legends and artifacts from long ago can give us some insight into past cultures, what do these contemporary stories say about our culture and our relationship with cats?  Hmmm....this requires deep cat thought...

Most of our readers probably have not had an opportunity to come in close contact with big and/or small exotic cats. So, we welcome you to come visit In-Sync Exotics and spend some time watching both our exotics and their smaller relatives, the domestic cats.   Perhaps you can come up with a new mytho about cats!

As an aside, wouldn't these would make great Halloween costumes?

Now, let's see if you got our challenge correct -- were you able to tell which pictures were faked?  If you guessed the white cat (#2) and the black lion (3) as fakes, then you guessed correctly!  The other photos were real and not photo shopped!

We hope you enjoyed another installment of Janis' Cat-o-tonic History Tales!  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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Home Away From Home!

We love it when people write to us and share their stories about their time spent at In-Sync Exotics.  We received one such letter and after reading it, we knew we had to share it with you! The letter is from Robin Gibson, an In-Sync Exotics volunteer, and she wrote to us about how much she missed In-Sync Exotics while she was away from us for about three months on medical leave.  

So without further ado, here's Robin's story!

After being out for medical reasons for over three months, last month I started back (just to shadow ) to make sure I even remembered how everything was done.  Sure enough, there were lots of things I had forgotten.  You would think after doing something over and over for two years, you could just pick right up where you left off.  Right?  But no.  I forgot little things-- important things--like checking and netting the tub in Mane Street playground, which happened to have a dead mouse in it.  So after letting Amol out on the playground, we had to return him to his quarters, just so I could do what should have done in the first place, and then let him back out again. 

Also, I had forgotten how much WORK it is to clean cages.  After hosing my first cage, I was ready to sit down for a break.  I can’t believe how soft I’ve gotten in just a short amount of time.  I didn’t realize how fast things can change around here, especially procedures.  When you’re here every week, you just don’t notice when a change occurs, but try being gone (just three months) and it’s almost like starting completely over from scratch. 

And then, there are all the new faces (animal and human) to learn. Usually, when we get a new cat or volunteer, I meet him or her within a day or two after arrival. But now, I’m meeting and trying to get to know all the new faces at once, which can feel a little overwhelming. And don’t get me started on how quick the babies grew up in my absence.  Before I left, little Gideon used to fit in the palm of my hand and now he’s larger than my lap! It surprised and saddened me to see all I've missed in such a short amount of time. It’s also made me aware of just how much I LOVE and MISSED my second home!
 

Needless to say, we are very happy to have Robin back!  A lot has happened in the last several months as one can see by all our past blog postings. While the blog tries to keep up with all the changes, it's not really the same as actually being at In-Sync Exotics (but we try real hard to make it feel like you are there!).  We hope our former volunteers and interns, who are no longer at In-Sync Exotics, enjoy our blog postings so they don't feel like they are too far from their "home away from home."

Christmas Countdown!

One of our Facebook followers asked if we knew of any Cafepress discounts available at this time.  We've been checking two sites for discount coupons (RetailMeNot and FreeShipping) and as of yesterday evening, there were no coupons available.  BUT, coupons are posted without notice, so you will want to check these two sites for discounts that can be applied towards In-Sync Exotics' apparel, Christmas gifts and cards, mugs, stadium blankets, and so forth.  The Christmas ornaments and stockings are really cute this year!

Did you know that you can personalize our latest Christmas Card creation featuring Sabu and Jynxie?  Click HERE for the link to this adorable Christmas Card (your blog mistress purchased the Sabu and Jynxie postcards and they are really, really adorable!).  This card is the only one with the "personalized" feature.  

12-Days Until Bake Sale!

Are you ready to have your tummy tempted by some fabulous Christmas goodies?  Make note on your calendar to attend a very special one-day baking extravaganza on Monday, December 17th at the Premier Place Building, Dallas, Texas!  Click HERE for a map to the bake sale!

Need more details about this great event that benefits the animals?  Click HERE for our flier!





2013 In-Sync Exotic Calendars!

Buy. One. Today.  Enough said!  (See our "commercial announcement" for details)

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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