Pre-Easter Celebration Week in Review!

Just one more day until our big Easter Celebration!!  We are so excited about this upcoming event as we prepare the grounds for our visitors--no rain or torando is going to stop us from  having a great time!


Let's take a look at what happened this week:

On Monday, we provided an update on Okemo and Keenan and formally introduced you to Wobbles, our little special needs kitten.  We also released the names of the wild cats pictured in our Who Am I With a Twist contest!  The brave readers who took a guess at the cats' names were pretty accurate, which just goes to show our blog readers know their In-Sync Exotics cats!  

Our Tuesday's posting was supposed to be about the tigers running and playing in their pools. Sadly, no tiger wanted to play in the pool that day, so no video or pictures were taken.  Instead, we covered Franklin's trip to the vet's office to find out why he was losing weight.   X-rays revealed that Franklin's heart was enlarged enough to put pressure on his trachea causing him to gag and turn away from food--hence the weight loss. We also discovered that Franklin may have the early stages of congestive heart failure.  Blood tests were taken and at the time the blog posting was written, we had not learned the results of these tests.


What we learned surprised us!  The blood tests came back indicating that Franklin has parasitic infection in his blood that may be responsible for the inflammation of his heart.  He is on medication and we are hoping that not only will it destroy the parasites in his blood, but reduce his unusual bad heart murmur (cats don't normally develop bad heart murmurs). Franklin is scheduled to re-visit his vet next month, so we will keep you posted on his progress.

We also learned Tuesday morning that Cold-EEZE selected In-Sync Exotics as the Share Your Cause campaign winner!  Read HERE to learn more!  Go Sabu Go!!!

Wednesday's posting covered the severe storm we were under Tuesday.  We knew there was a chance of rain on Tuesday, but we had no idea that there would be a chance of multiple tornados hitting the Dallas Forth Worth area! We are about 38 miles away from the hardest hit areas, and yet we still received quite a bit of scary weather.  The exact number and strength of the tornados won't be known until surveyors have fanned acrossed North Texas, looking for clues among the debris that covered folks' yards.  But it is estimated that 10-18 tornados plowed through the Dallas metro area, tossing semitrailers in the air and pelting neighborhoods with golf ball-sized hail.  

At one point we thought for sure a tornado was going to touch down right in the heart of In-Sync Exotics.  Thankfully we had all the animals secured and we ready for the worst.  As it turned out, we were only pelted with three inches of rain in a very short period of time and high winds.  No tornado! 

We'd like to thank everyone for their outpouring support and concern for our animals and staff during this stormy event.  Good news is we are all okay and ready for Saturday's big event!

On Thursday, we paid tribute to Paul Butler whose sudden passing saddened us all.  Paul's love for In-Sync Exotics was evident as he helped us rescue the Poetry cats, cared for our wild ones, and took on important projects (such as stringing up our Christams lights every year) that made an impact on our sanctuary.  Thank you Paul for your service to the animals...you are missed by us all.

Easter Celebration 2011

We end with this blog posting with an invitation for you and your family/friends to attend our Easter Celebration tomorrow!  Our doors open at 10:30am and we have lots of fun scheduled throughout the day--two egg hunts, egg toss and bunny hop contests, face painting, games, crafts, a bounce house, PLUS you get to watch the cats get their Easter goodies that many of you sent our wild ones this year!

So make some "tiger tracks" to In-Sync Exotics this Saturday and join us for a day filled with fun, laughter, and lots of wonderful memories!

Easter Celebration 2011

We Miss You, Paul...

Paul moving a big cat

Our hearts ached when one of our board members, Colleen Butler, notified us of her husband’s sudden passing.

All of us at In-Sync Exotics extend heartfelt sympathy and love to Colleen and her family during this most difficult time. 

We will miss Paul very much as he was always willing to help animals in need—especially the Poetry cats we rescued last year from dire conditions.  For those readers who did not know him, we’d like for you to meet Paul, posthumously, as he worked tireless loading the Poetry cats onto the transporter. 

We will always remember Paul as he worked very hard stringing up our Christmas lights each year—perched atop high ladders trying to make sense of the endless miles of twinkling lights.  And we will always remember that his favorite exotic wild tiger, Aasha, captured his heart from the very first moment he met her at In-Sync Exotics.

Paul was more than just a volunteer to us—he was family.

Colleen suggests memorial contributions be sent in Paul’s honor to In-Sync Exotics as a way to memorialize the love and respect he had for the In-Sync Exotics’ animals, board of directors, staff, and volunteers. If you would like to honor Paul’s memory by making a charitable donation, please click HERE.  If you decide to use Paypal or write a check, please indicate in the “purpose” or “memo” line that your contribution is made in Paul’s memory.

Colleen, we want you to know that you are definitely in all of our thoughts and prayers. We are here for you...always.

Service will be this afternoon at 12:30 in the Wildwood Chapel.  
http://www.restlandfuneralhome.com/home/contact_us.html

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Stormy Weather!

Well, yesterday was another day when the unexpected happened at In-Sync Exotics!  We knew there was a chance of rain in yesterday's weather forecast, but we had no idea that there would be a chance of multiple tornados hitting the Dallas Forth Worth area!  We are about 38 miles away from the hardest hit areas, and yet we still received quite a bit of scary weather!  Here are a few photos of the devastation:  PHOTOS

One weather report indicated that a tornado was bearing down towards Wylie, Texas.  Thankfully, we have an emergency plan that was mobilized immediately thanks to our staff and volunteers!  Everyone went to work securing our wild animals in their concrete dens located inside their quarters, just as a precaution, in the event a tornado actually hit our sanctuary.  All the wild cats were secured within 20 minutes!  Even  Katy (sanctuary dog), our little domestic kitties, and horses were secured during the worse part of the storm.

Good news is -- we are all okay; we just have a bit more cleaning up to do before our big event on Saturday! Ironically, it appears our rain chances for our Easter celebration went from 20% to 0%--so all in all, things are so bad after all!

Since we don't have a regular posting today, we thought you might enjoy this Simon the Cat video in the spirit of our upcoming celebration this Saturday!

So enjoy, everyone, enjoy!

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