June 2022 Newsletter

Happy June Yogie Fans!

Yogie and Friends celebrated 22 years as a sanctuary on 26 May 2022. We could not have done it without our fans, and we appreciate you. Thank you so much! Here is to another 22 years!

BUILDING MAINTENANCE AND ISSUES: The roof over the pergola section of the newer cat building has been damaged during recent storms. Our building guy should be by this week to assess what needs to be done. We said we would like to replace the fiberglass style cover to metal so it holds up better. We are not letting the smaller cats, such as Egon and littermates out of the building onto the catio because the holes are large enough for them to escape. We do not want that happening. Fortunately, our carpenter is an awesome guy who never charges ridiculous prices for labor. Unfortunately, he has no control over the material prices, which have gotten out of control.

MEDICAL ISSUES: The previous few weeks have been rough. Just when we get slightly ahead, we get slammed. When you have sixty-nine cats in the sanctuary, it is bound to happen. It just hurts financially, but more so to see the cats that have illness, or injury. But we press on for them!

EGON: Egon had his 60-day labs, and they look good. The vet also did an ultrasound and said there is no free fluid in his abdomen, which is one of the Wet FIP symptoms. His urine was also normal, so we are on the right track with him. The admins of the treatment program do not feel he is gaining weight fast enough, but he looks good to us, and he is eating well, and, playing. They recommend we ask the vet to do a body score on him and we will next week. The final 34 days of his pills cost $850, then there is the cost of labs and vet visits. All part of the process. He has another set of labs on day eighty, which will be June 17th. If those labs are good, he will finish his medicine on June 21st and should be cleared for observation. Wow! We never thought this day would get here. Especially after the heartache of losing his sister, Miracle. Observation is also a period of 84 days, labs, and if those continue to look good, after the 84-day observation period, he will be considered cured! That will be sometime in September. We pray he gets through and no relapse!

LUCIA: Lucia, the deaf cat who had major abdominal surgery on April 21st has healed well and is back to her normal, playful, self.

PETE: Pete, went in for his two-week glucose curve and his numbers will still high, so the vet increased his insulin to two units. Hopefully, this is his level, but we will not know until his next Glucose curve. We feel it is doing some good even now since his behavior is more of the old Pete we know.

CHLOE: Our nineteen-year-old cat, Chloe, who is also our first domestic cat rescue for Yogie back in 2003, was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. She must get rechecked after two weeks on meds to see if she is at the proper levels.

We were catching up on our bill, but it is uncommon to have medical issues with an aging population of cats. We sure could use a break though. We still have a balance remaining of more than $2400 at our vet.

If you would like to donate directly to the vet bill you, can one directly to Airline Animal Health and Surgery Clinic in Bossier City, Louisiana. 318-747-5747. Or:
DONATION APPS: Donation apps are a fast way for you to donate much needed cash to Yogie and Friends. The following are the methods you can use to help the cats:

PayPal: yogieandfriends@hotmail.com
Venmo: YogieCats
CashApp: $YogieAndFriends

And as always, you can mail a check or money order to: Yogie and Friends, 128 Fob Lane, Frierson, LA 71027.

WHAT IS FIP? Feline Infectious Peritonitis, FIP, is a corona-based virus. This is a feline specific illness and not contagious to humans. This is one diagnosis that those of us in rescue dread because it has always been a death sentence. Until now. There are no guarantees with any medications, but this one is promising. Here is a link with the best explanation of what FIP is, and the program we are using for these two babies.

https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/feline-infectious-peritonitis

PEN RAFFLE: We will be having several raffle items up at Geek’d Con in August. This sugar skull pen is just one example of what we will have at our fundraiser booth.

CRITICAL FOOD AND LITTER NEEDS: The shelves at pet stores, and other stores in general, have been quite bear with the much-needed supplies we need. Our priorities are, scoopable cat litter (no lightweight as it is not safe for sick, or young, cats), Friskies Pate’ canned food, Royal Canin Kitten slices in gravy (Miracle eats this best), Royal Canin Dry Kitten, Purina Complete Dry, and Purina Naturals. We do not use grain free as it is not safe or recommended by our veterinarians. We also use Purina Fortiflora, which is a probiotic that aids in the health of the cats. Especially those in FIP treatment. Any, and all, help with these items would be appreciated. You can check out our wish lists on Amazon and Chewy.

https://www.chewy.com/g/yogie-and-friends-fiv-cat-sanctuary_b66609597?fbclid=IwAR2PutvdDsL2hKM9UNmkJqplrsvJtYewWZd7kPqqeY6FUtXoYpzOA-mHq-Q
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/?ie=UTF8&cid=A2LGJPU9KN7C2N

SPONSORSHIP: We often speak of our sponsorship program and right now we are really trying hard to get all our cats sponsored. Sponsorship is a wonderful way to help support our cats. By sponsoring one of our Yogie cats, you will be providing food, limited medical care (we know that medical bills can get extremely high and do not expect a sponsor to cover it. Unless they can, and want to), and their basic care and support. 100% of the sponsorship goes to the care of these animals. If each cat had a regular, monthly, sponsor, it would help ease the financial burden of care for the animals we provide sanctuary for.

Please note that more than one person may sponsor a cat, but rest assured that all sponsor funds are used for the ongoing care of our cats.

You can sponsor a cat for just $15 a month, $45 a quarter, or $180 a year. You can always contribute more. It all helps a great deal.

If you choose to sponsor a cat via PayPal or Venmo, please let us know the name of the cat you would like to sponsor. You can see on our web page in previous newsletters, the list of cats for you to choose from.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Yogie Booth at Geek’d Con
Shreveport Convention Center
400 Caddo Street, Shreveport, Louisiana
19 – 21 August 2022

AMAZON SMILE: Did you know that when you shop via Smile.Amazon.com you can select Yogie and Friends as your charity of choice, and they will donate a percentage of the sales to us? It is an extremely effortless way to help.

PAYPAL: PayPal has a program where you can do automatic monthly donations to Yogie and Friends. This is an easy and effective way to help our fundraising for the animals. You can also choose to pay the fees by selecting the Friends and Family option in PayPal ensuring we would receive the entire amount of your donation. Our PayPal is: yogieandfriends@hotmail.com

FINANCIAL SUPPORT: Your donations are the most important thing to help us with our animals. We are a 501(C)(3) non-profit, in good standing. Your donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law. We can really use help with funds to buy food, veterinarian care, and everyday care of the wellbeing of the animals. Thank you for your support.

We are spending about $4500 a month on food and litter alone. Then we have vet bills and other incidentals that come up creating an immediate need.

Our intake is closed until further notice.
YOU CAN MAIL YOUR DONATIONS TO US AT:

YOGIE AND FRIENDS
128 FOB LANE
FRIERSON, LA 71027

PLEASE spay and neuter your pets. Adopt! Do not Shop!

Thank You! The Yogie Cats and their Volunteer Staff!


Posted in Monthly Newsletter, The News