May 2022 Newsletter
Greetings Yogie Fans!
May is here, and boy do we have a lot to share.
We want to thank those of you who supported our Spring bake sale. So much had gone wrong prior and our fans came through like troopers.
Also, thank you to those who supported us through Give for Good. This is the 24 hours, online, giving program that happens the first Tuesday in May. We could not do this without you.
MIRACLE’S MEMORY: The tee shirt fundraiser, Miracle’s Memory: The Fight Against FIP, is complete. Thank you to those who bought shirts. They are supposed to arrive to you around May 16th.
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.
MIRACLE: As many of you already know, Miracle lost her battle with Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) on March 31st. She was just so little, and the needles for her injections we so big. It was a painful process that seemed to be working for her, but on March 31st she gained eight ounces of abdominal fluid, and that should not happen. Especially since she had already had twenty-two injections. We had seen promise, but Miracle just had so much damage to her intestines, and she was just so ill. She was a fighter. She crossed the Rainbow Bridge on March 31st. She was a difficult loss for us.
EGON: Egon has been doing well with his FIP treatment. He was also receiving the same injections as his sister, Miracle, had been getting, but after 22 days we consulted with our admins and switched him to pills. They usually like to wait at least until 30 days of injections, but he is strong and fought the injections. He did not have the G.I. issues that Miracle did, so he is now on pills. He receives two pills a day, at a cost of $18 a day. Tomorrow we will increase his dose, at a cost of $24 a day, but it is worth it. He had his thirty post treatment labs, and they look particularly good. He is on the right track, and we are hopefully he will make it.
LUCIA: Lucia, pronounced Lou Chia, had major abdominal surgery on April 21st. Our director saw her vomit, and when she went to pick up Lucia, she felt lumps that felt like mammary lumps. She got her into the vet on that day and we were told she had an inguinal hernia. When the vet opened her up, she had found far more internal damage than she ever expected. Lucia’s intestines and other organs were moved into her sternum. The vet said “I must say you bring us the most interesting cases. What can you tell me about her trauma history?” We were asked by Southern Hills Vet Clinic if we would take Lucia into our sanctuary. She had been found by a good Samaritan with a feral colony, emaciated, and with a broken jaw. We asked the vet if she looked like a car may have hit her, and she said “yes.” The thing is she never had any signs of outward trauma when we took her in on August 7th, 2020. She may have recovered some before she arrived to us. Her ears had an ear mite infestation as well, and she is deaf. We do not know if the ear mites, trauma, or if it is genetic. Lucia did not need jaw surgery because it was aligned well and chewing dry food made it stronger and heal well.
PETE: Pete, the son of our calico, Mama, has been vomiting and losing weight. We brought him to the vet, and he was diagnosed as diabetic. A severe case too. He is now on insulin injections and will have his follow-up on May 13th to see if we need to adjust his insulin. Pete is a nice cat, and this is difficult for him since it changes his eating schedule, which as a result, changes the feeding schedule for ALL the cats in his section. They are not thrilled, but it is not a terrible thing for them. Pete took ten days to trap when he was a kitten. Our director found him, and his three brothers, along with their mom, back in June 2009. So, we estimate Pete to be around thirteen years old. We hope to give him several more years.
SARAH: Sarah, a male who came to us already named, has lost two pounds since his last vet visit, and that is a lot of weight for a cat. As our director found out the hard way on the drive to the vet, Sarah had explosive diarrhea. That was an unpleasant ride to the vet. The vet did not see anything concerning on his workup, but he was slightly dehydrated, He was given fluids and oral meds and will have a follow-up after that.
FINN: If you remember Finn, the cat that has the ruptured eardrum a couple of years ago, well, he has been acting a bit “off” and with his history, we did not want to take any chances. He also had been vomiting and diarrhea. That worried us that his ears could be acting up again. He does have to go in for the occasional anal gland expression. He was also placed on Famotidine and Propectalin. Hopefully, this takes care of his problem.
Our vet bill had been paid in full after the bake sale, then we got slammed with more vet issues. Our current bill is over $3300. This is the cost of rescue. We are more unique than other rescues in our area because we are a sanctuary, and that means these cats live their lives out with us at the sanctuary. It is not easy.
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.
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.
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 and Friends Gang!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter, The News