June 2017 Newsletter
Hello Yogie Fans!
The weather has not been very cooperative with us at the sanctuary, so that has literally put a damper on the breakdown of the old habitats on the property. It’s not unexpected here in Louisiana since spring is typically rainy, but we were hoping to get more of the habitats torn down so we could start clearing the land more in preparation for a larger, better, building to house ALL the cats in one building. It’s okay though. The houses we have now are still very good houses and all the cats are doing well. We just want to make it a more consolidated setup.
Our two remaining African Servals are Speedy (born January 5th, 2001), and Noodles (born May 23rd, 2001). Speedy came to us from Washington State and Noodles arrived at Yogie from south Louisiana with her mate, Mongo. Both of our Servals are now 16 years old. They can live as long as 19+ years. Speedy isn’t as playful as he once was, as is expected, and Noodles is also starting to show her age. They still enjoy an enriched life with us, but we know they will eventually cross the rainbow bridge. For now, they are still doing well at the sanctuary.
Taz, our bobcat, is also still doing well, for an 18-year-old bobcat. He remains a little bit grumpy, but he has earned that right.
These are the three remaining exotic cats at our Frierson property.
Our Needs: We usually purchase our cat food and cat litter on the local Air Force base since both our vice president and me, are retired from the Air Force. We have lifetime access to the base commissary and they often have amazing sales on these items. In the recent past, we could purchase the 35 pound pails of Tidy Cat for $5 – $7 a pail during their case lot sales. Well, there has been a change of hands for the pet supplies and they are no longer offering the huge discounts we’ve had in the past. We are going to try and contact companies directly to see if we can work out a deal with them to purchase as a greatly discounted price. In the meantime, we still need your help with Scoopable cat litter, canned and dry cat food. If you can help us with these items we would certainly appreciate it. And cash is still always the best way to donate so we can still purchase some items as a reduced rate.
Donations of cash can be done in several ways, online via PayPal. You do not need a PayPal account to use a credit card to make a one-time donation via PayPal. Or you can mail a check or money order to: Yogie and Friends, 128 Fob Lane, Frierson, LA 71027
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): CFC has made some major changes that has impacted Yogie and Friends, and many other charities. They are now making it somewhat of a “pay to play” type program. What we mean by this is we now must PAY to PARTICIPATE in the program. The shame of this is that we already had fees taken out of the donations, but the cost of being part of the program is not cost effective. We are hoping this changes back in the future. It just makes no sense to have to pay to receive the donations from our Federal employee fans. We hope they will choose to donate directly now.
Louisiana and Texas Kroger Shoppers: If you have not already done so, it’s time to relink your Kroger Community Rewards to your Kroger Plus Card. Every time you shop at a Texas or Louisiana Kroger and use your Plus Card, Kroger will donate a portion of the sale to Yogie and Friends to help the FIV and other special needs cats we have at the sanctuary. Every little bit helps! Here is the link to enroll or sign in (if you are already enrolled). Choose us as your charity of choice. NPO #80724, Yogie and Friends Exotic Cat Sanctuary (we will be fixing the name later, but it’s still all good). https://www.kroger.com/communityrewards
Recycle Ink Cartridges: New labels have arrived and are available for you to ship cartridges out for recycling. Please consider helping us with our recycling program. Don’t throw those old ink jet/laser jet cartridges in the trash. Give them to us or let us mail you the labels so you can send them out directly and save us a step. We recycle them and get cash for the cats. You can box up the cartridges; put a prepaid label on it that we will provide you, and then drop it off at any UPS shipping facility or they can pick it up at your business. If you need labels, then just contact us and we will get soe to you.
Facebook: We have a new Facebook page now. It is called, Yogie and Friends Special Needs Cats. It is a strictly controlled page so that nobody is every bullied or threatened on our page by others. It’s a safe page to share educational information and news about our wonderful cats. Please like on the page and share with your friends.
SPONSOR A SPECIAL NEEDS CAT: We are looking for sponsors for our cats. We hope that is you. By sponsoring one of the FIV cats you will be providing food, medical care, and their basic care and support. 100% of the sponsorship goes to the care of these animals.
Sponsors Needed:
Please note that more than one person may sponsor some cats, 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.
Cats in need of Sponsoring:
FIV/Feline Leukemia Positive Cats:
Petey Gatsby
Paisley Sunny
VooDoo Frazier
Bubba King
Dotsey Bruno
Alex Ursula
Sam Nimitz
Non-Positive Cats:
Hope Elsa
Kristoff Barney
Anna Duncan
Sarah Muff
Blackie Penelope
Luna Duckie
Lucy Smudge
Squeak Smokey
Bandit Snowball
Natasha Boo
Miss Kitty Blackie (2)
Max
You can mail your donations to us at:
Yogie and Friends
128 Fob Lane
Frierson, LA 71027
If you wish to donate on a regular basis and do not wish to use PayPal, your bank can set up automatic payments for you.
AMAZON WISH LIST: If you shop via Amazon.com you select Yogie and Friends as your charity of choice. They will donate a percentage of the sales to us. It’s a very easy way to help.
We also have an Amazon wish list to help with the feeding and caring of our feral cat colonies as well as the adoptable cats and kittens we are fostering. Please help if you can.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/?ie=UTF8&cid=A2LGJPU9KN7C2N
We still need your financial help with the nine big cats we are boarding and all donations are appreciated as we continue to care for them. They are safe and well.
Money we raise during any of our fundraisers goes to the boarding of our big cats and for TNR. We have always been, and will continue to be, a 100% volunteer driven organization.
Upcoming Events:
17 June 2017 3 – 6 pm
Olive Oil & Vinegar Tasting and Mini Bake Sale
Bella Nonna’s Olive Oil & Vinegar – Tasting Bar
1409 E. 70th St., Suite 107 Shreveport, LA
PLEASE spay and neuter your pets. Adopt! Don’t Shop! Also, please continue heartworm prevention all year round and not just in the summer months. Heartworm disease can be transmitted all year.
Jenny and the Yogie and Friends Gang!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter, The News
March 2017 Newsletter
Boo Boo 1999 – 2017
Greetings!
We found out some sad news a little late to add to our last newsletter, but one of our lionesses, Boo Boo, died in mid-January. Tim had gone to Oklahoma to visit our big cats and found out while he was there. Boo Boo was one of the first group of lions that arrived Yogie and Friends. She was born 4 December 1999 and lived a good life with us. She was also Moses’ mother. She left a beautiful legacy behind. We will miss her dearly, but we are glad for the long life she had.
Bert’s leg cast
Our sweet boy, Bert, is healing well. He has another week in his splint, but he is doing very, very well.
We have two new intakes coming in soon that will put us back at capacity for animals. We do not believe in taking more animals than we can afford to take care of. It’s sad that we cannot save them all, but we can’t. These cats have special needs and when they do get sick they sometimes take more time to recover. Right now, we are dealing with upper respiratory infections, which is not an unusual problem at any animal facility, but we are waiting for this to clear up before we bring the two new cats in. They are in the care of a vet clinic right now, so they are safe.
Remodeling: We are working hard on taking down the 16 foot fences and all the materials that housed our big cats and working on building one larger, two story, building for the little guys. This will be a multi-functional building that will have a quarantine section for new intakes, as well as a quarantine section for sick or recovering cats. At this time, we are working on a 5000-square foot building, but we cannot get it started until we get the property cleared of the older materials. We will be donating the cell phone tower buildings to a pig rescue in Ida and are just waiting until transportation can be arranged to do so. This is a huge, but not impossible, task. Once this is behind us we will be able to move forward in a big way with the building. We are excited about this. We will have an artist’s rendition of the building to show our fans soon.
Booster Fundraiser: Thank you to everyone who helped with our Booster tote bag fundraiser. We appreciate your help and hope you enjoy the tote bags.
Financial Needs: Our bank account is a bit low right now due to recent vet bills and the obvious food and cat litter, and we could really use our donors help. Your donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law, so please, if you c
Boo Boo 1999 – 2017
an find it in your heart to help us, please do. These animals are so worth it.
We still have four remaining big cats in boarding in Oklahoma and they are doing amazing as always. They love seeing us when we visit them.
Donate Cash:
Donations of cash are what we need most. You can donate online via PayPal. You do not need a PayPal account to use a credit card to make a one-time donation via PayPal.
Louisiana and Texas Kroger Shoppers: If you have not already done so, it’s time to relink your Kroger Community Rewards to your Kroger Plus Card. Every time you shop at a Texas or Louisiana Kroger and use your Plus Card, Kroger will donate a portion of the sale to Yogie and Friends to help the FIV and other special needs cats we have at the sanctuary. Every little bit helps! Here is the link to enroll or sign in (if you are already enrolled). Choose us as your charity of choice. NPO #80724, Yogie and Friends Exotic Cat Sanctuary (we will be fixing the name later, but it’s still all good). https://www.kroger.com/communityrewards
Recycle Ink Cartridges: New labels have arrived and are available for you to ship cartridges out for recycling. Please consider helping us with our recycling program. Don’t throw those old ink jet/laser jet cartridges in the trash. Give them to us or let us mail you the labels so you can send them out directly and save us a step. We recycle them and get cash for the cats. You can box up the cartridges; put a prepaid label on it that we will provide you, and then drop it off at any UPS shipping facility or they can pick it up at your business. If you need labels, then just contact us and we will get some to you.
Facebook: We have a new Facebook page now. It is called, Yogie and Friends Special Needs Cats. It is a strictly controlled page so that nobody is every bullied or threatened on our page by others. It’s a safe page to share educational information and news about our wonderful cats. Please like on the page and share with your friends.
Cat Food and Cat Litter: We always need cat litter and canned cat food. We are currently using Purina Complete and Purina Indoor Formula for dry food, and Friskies canned (all types). As far as cat litter we use Tidy Cat Scoopable without any scents in it such as Glade. Cats don’t like scented cat litter. We use no harsh chemical products for cleaning. For pest control, we use food grade diatomaceous earth that we spread on the grounds. This is available at most feed stores. Also, washable blankets and throws are greatly appreciated. Please email us if you have any questions about helping with supplies.
SPONSOR A SPECIAL NEEDS CAT: We are looking for sponsors for our cats. We hope that is you. FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) is a feline only, slow-acting virus. It is so slow to progress that most FIV+ cats die of old age. Once thought to be deadly and highly contagious, it has since been found to be neither. Just as HIV was once believed to be a death sentence for those afflicted, so it is still with FIV. Only in the case of cats, the mere diagnosis produces that death sentence. Fortunately, there are many veterinarians who don’t believe that this is the case and therefore we got four FIV cats. We got them from veterinarians who did not want to kill them. We do NOT want these cats to die just because of this diagnosis either. They deserve the chance to live. And live they will with us. Now that we have our first FIV positive cats living comfortably in their new home at Yogie and Friends, they will need your support. By sponsoring one of the FIV cats you will be providing food, medical care, and their basic care and support. 100% of the sponsorship goes to the care of these animals. None of the Yogie volunteer staff receives ANY compensation for the work we do.
Sponsors Needed:
Please note that more than one person may sponsor some cats, 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.
Cats in need of Sponsoring:
FIV/Feline Leukemia Positive Cats: Non-Positive Cats:
Petey Hope Elsa
Gatsby Kristoff Barney
Paisley Anna Duncan
Sunny Sarah Muff
VooDoo Blackie Penelope
Frazier Luna Duckie
Bubba Lucy Smudge
King Squeak Smokey
Dotsey Bandit Snowball
Bruno Natasha Boo
Alex Miss Kitty Blackie (2)
Splotchie Max
You can mail your donations to us at:
Yogie and Friends
128 Fob Lane
Frierson, LA 71027
If you wish to donate on a regular basis and do not wish to use PayPal, your bank can set up automatic payments for you.
AMAZON WISH LIST: If you shop via Amazon.com you select Yogie and Friends as your charity of choice. They will donate a percentage of the sales to us. It’s a very easy way to help.
We also have an Amazon wish list to help with the feeding and caring of our feral cat colonies as well as the adoptable cats and kittens we are fostering. Please help if you can.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/?ie=UTF8&cid=A2LGJPU9KN7C2N
We still need your financial help with the nine big cats we are boarding and all donations are appreciated as we continue to care for them. They are safe and well.
Money we raise during any of our fundraisers goes to the boarding of our big cats and for TNR. We have always been, and will continue to be, a 100% volunteer driven organization.
Upcoming Events:
Our bake sale has been rescheduled!!
Our bake sale has been rescheduled!!
.
25 March 2017 NOTE: Our bake sale has been rescheduled!
Petco, 6596 Youree Drive, Shreveport
23/23 Apr 2017 10am – 6 pm SBC Louisiana Comic Con
Hirsch Coliseum, Shreveport, LA
17 June 2017 3 – 6 pm Olive Oil & Vinegar Tasting and Mini Bake Sale
Bella Nonna’s Olive Oil & Vinegar – Tasting Bar
1409 E. 70th St., Suite 107
Shreveport, LA
PLEASE spay and neuter your pets. Adopt! Don’t Shop! Also, please continue heartworm prevention all year round and not just in the summer months. Heartworm disease can be transmitted all year.
Jenny and the Yogie and Friends Gang!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter, The News
February 2017 Newsletter
Greetings Yogie Fans!
I hate starting off our newsletter with sad news, but sadly, I must.
We received devastating news that one of our volunteers, Karen Ludke, sadly died on January 22nd. This was such a shock to us since we were just visiting with her after a recent stay in the hospital because of pneumonia. Karen called me several years ago, and told me she had, had heart surgery, a stroke, and suffered with Lupus. All by the young age of 37. She loved big cats and wanted to somehow volunteer her time to be around them. Since her health was so precarious she worked indoors in our gift shop. That was a big help to us and we never took her for granted. She had been with us for about seven years. In fact, she had just come over to my house to meet one of the Six Pack kittens because she wanted to adopt one. Karen fought the good fight. She was only 42 years old. She leaves behind her mother, her step-dad, her older brother and sister, and her beloved baby girl, her dog, Bailey, and of course, her Yogie and Friends family. We will miss Karen dearly.
My sweet chocolate lab, Riley, died unexpectedly from a splenic rupture on January 19th. To say I was shocked is an understatement. She was the best dog I’ve had and she was somewhat of a Yogie dog. So many of the team loved her. We have found out this is more common and when it happens, it is often sudden and unexpected. She is in good company with many who loved her.
One of the Six Pack kittens, Bert, was injured when a volunteer accidentally knocked over a 35-pound pail of Tidy Cat litter and it hit Bert, breaking his right, rear, leg. He is being splinted now and will make a full recovery. Accidents happen, but this was a freak one. Believe me, we know that we will take extra care to avoid something like this ever happening again.
Booster Fundraiser: We currently have a fundraiser using Booster, but instead of the usual tee shirts we decided to go with tote bags. We hope you will support these great animals by buying a tote, or two, or more.
https://www.booster.com/special-needs-cats-need-us
Sarah Surgery Update: Sarah, the long haired-black cat that needed surgery has made a great recovery. The large lump on his abdomen ended up being a hernia and Dr. Wise repaired it and he is doing wonderful now. The surgery was $700, but it was worth it.
Financial Needs: Our bank account is a bit low right now due to recent vet bills and the obvious food and cat litter, and we could really use our donors help. Your donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law, so please, if you can find it in your heart to help us, please do. These animals are so worth it.
We still have five remaining big cats in boarding in Oklahoma and they are doing amazing as always. They love seeing us when we visit them.
Donate Cash:
Donations of cash are what we need most. You can donate online via PayPal. You do not need a PayPal account to use a credit card to make a one-time donation via PayPal.
Louisiana and Texas Kroger Shoppers: If you have not already done so, it’s time to relink your Kroger Community Rewards to your Kroger Plus Card. Every time you shop at a Texas or Louisiana Kroger and use your Plus Card, Kroger will donate a portion of the sale to Yogie and Friends to help the FIV and other special needs cats we have at the sanctuary. Every little bit helps! Here is the link to enroll or sign in (if you are already enrolled). Choose us as your charity of choice. NPO #80724, Yogie and Friends Exotic Cat Sanctuary (we will be fixing the name later, but it’s still all good). https://www.kroger.com/communityrewards
Recycle Ink Cartridges: New labels have arrived and are available for you to ship cartridges out for recycling. Please consider helping us with our recycling program. Don’t throw those old ink jet/laser jet cartridges in the trash. Give them to us or let us mail you the labels so you can send them out directly and save us a step. We recycle them and get cash for the cats. You can box up the cartridges; put a prepaid label on it that we will provide you, and then drop it off at any UPS shipping facility or they can pick it up at your business. If you need labels, then just contact us and we will get some to you.
Volunteers: We need dedicated volunteers. Volunteering at Yogie and Friends does have its rewards. You get to cuddle with some great cats. You get to meet great people with a similar love for cats and for what we are doing. And we will feed you! Lol! But really, it’s a good feeling and the work is not that difficult. Yes, we will have some very labor intensive jobs as we repurpose the property to safely accommodate domestic cats and yes, there is lawn work, but that’s not all that is needed. We need volunteers who will scoop litter boxes, sweep and mop floors, clean counter tops and work spaces, poop scoop the outdoor cat play areas, and other basic cleaning needs. We also have cats need to be loved and socialized. We hope you will consider helping us make our mission a successful one. Please volunteer with us and help us make life a little nicer for these special cats. You can contact us via email at yogieandfriends@hotmail.com and our volunteer coordinator will call you as soon as possible.
Facebook: We have a new Facebook page now. It is called, Yogie and Friends Special Needs Cats. It is a strictly controlled page so that nobody is every bullied or threatened on our page by others. It’s a safe page to share educational information and news about our wonderful cats. Please like on the page and share with your friends.
Cat Food and Cat Litter: We always need cat litter and canned cat food. We are currently using Purina Complete and Purina Indoor Formula for dry food, and Friskies canned (all types). As far as cat litter we use Tidy Cat Scoopable without any scents in it such as Glade. Cats don’t like scented cat litter. We use no harsh chemical products for cleaning. For pest control, we use food grade diatomaceous earth that we spread on the grounds. This is available at most feed stores. Also, washable blankets and throws are greatly appreciated. Please email us if you have any questions about helping with supplies.
SPONSOR A SPECIAL NEEDS CAT: We are looking for sponsors for our cats. We hope that is you. FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) is a feline only, slow-acting virus. It is so slow to progress that most FIV+ cats die of old age. Once thought to be deadly and highly contagious, it has since been found to be neither. Just as HIV was once believed to be a death sentence for those afflicted, so it is still with FIV. Only in the case of cats, the mere diagnosis produces that death sentence. Fortunately, there are many veterinarians who don’t believe that this is the case and therefore we got four FIV cats. We got them from veterinarians who did not want to kill them. We do NOT want these cats to die just because of this diagnosis either. They deserve the chance to live. And live they will with us. Now that we have our first FIV positive cats living comfortably in their new home at Yogie and Friends, they will need your support. By sponsoring one of the FIV cats you will be providing food, medical care, and their basic care and support. 100% of the sponsorship goes to the care of these animals. None of the Yogie volunteer staff receives ANY compensation for the work we do.
Sponsors Needed:
Please note that more than one person may sponsor some cats, 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.
Cats in need of Sponsoring:
FIV/Feline Leukemia Positive Cats: Non-Positive Cats:
Petey Hope Elsa
Gatsby Kristoff Barney
Paisley Anna Duncan
Sunny Sarah Muff
VooDoo Blackie Penelope
Frazier Luna Duckie
Bubba Lucy Smudge
King Squeak Smokey
Dotsey Bandit Snowball
Bruno Natasha Boo
Alex Miss Kitty Blackie (2)
Splotchie Max
You can mail your donations to us at:
Yogie and Friends
128 Fob Lane
Frierson, LA 71027
If you wish to donate on a regular basis and do not wish to use PayPal, your bank can set up automatic payments for you.
AMAZON WISH LIST: If you shop via Amazon.com you select Yogie and Friends as your charity of choice. They will donate a percentage of the sales to us. It’s a very easy way to help.
We also have an Amazon wish list to help with the feeding and caring of our feral cat colonies as well as the adoptable cats and kittens we are fostering. Please help if you can.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/?ie=UTF8&cid=A2LGJPU9KN7C2N
We still need your financial help with the nine big cats we are boarding and all donations are appreciated as we continue to care for them. They are safe and well.
Money we raise during any of our fundraisers goes to the boarding of our big cats and for TNR. We have always been, and will continue to be, a 100% volunteer driven organization.
Upcoming Events:
25 March 2017 11am – 4 pm Spring Bake Sale and Fundraiser
Petco, 6596 Youree Drive, Shreveport
23/23 Apr 2017 10am – 6 pm SBC Louisiana Comic Con
Hirsch Coliseum, Shreveport, LA
PLEASE spay and neuter your pets. Adopt! Don’t Shop! Also, please continue heartworm prevention all year round and not just in the summer months. Heartworm disease can be transmitted all year.
Jenny and the Yogie and Friends Gang!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter, The News