July 2015 Newletter
Hello Yogie Fans!
I took a break and skipped June for the update. Sometimes you just need a break. But, I am back and there are some very good things happening at Yogie and Friends.
First thing is we hope that everyone, human and animal, is safe from all the flooding the area has been experiencing. The Yogie property and animals are all safe and well. Our big cats in Oklahoma are doing very well and there has been a great deal of rain there as well. We have been considering building an Ark, but fortunately that isn’t needed at this time. And we are grateful for that! Lol!
Our long term plan for Yogie and Friends, after our big cats passed on naturally, was to repurpose the big cat habitats for special needs domestic cats. Since we wanted our big cats safely out of here this plan has been moved years sooner than expected. We have been modifying our habitats to ensure that little cats could never accidentally get out. That work has been done. But after much thought and consideration we have come up with what we feel is a much better idea for our special needs rescues. We have a wonderful building we used for admission into the sanctuary. It is insulated, dry walled, painted, has heat and air conditioning, and is just a pretty building we have not been utilizing as we had before. We are now using this building and are in the process of making a connecting run from a large dog door out of the building and into an enclosed habitat. We have put in cat friendly furniture and enrichment and are housing special needs, more specifically, FIV positive cats. These cats will have the choice to stay inside or enjoy the great outdoors safely away from cruelty, vehicles, or other predators. We are excited about this. This building is also where our office is and it is much more convenient and a great house for these cats to enjoy. We will have an open house for the public to visit in the near future. Right now we are giving our newest residents time to adjust.
We want to introduce our first, special needs residents, to our Yogie and Friends fans and supporters:
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Olaf.
Olaf is a beautiful, white male with flame tips and blue eyes much like a Siamese cat. Olaf was a feral cat who was injured and nursed back to health. He had an injured leg when we took him in and during his X-Rays a bullet, not the cause of the current injury, was seen in another part of his leg. During that healing time he proved to be a most loving, playful, and happy boy. |
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Gatsby.
Gatsby is a beautiful black and white cat with some very unusual facial markings. Tim said it makes him look like a guy. It kind of does. He will look at us and you would swear he is giving you an Elvis smirk. He is sweet, but a little nervous right now because of his feral beginnings. He is the only survivor of a colony that had been being killed by an unknown person. He loves being held and petted. |
| Hope: (Photo Coming Soon)
Hope is a tiny ball of fur named, Hope, because she offers us hope of our new direction at Yogie and Friends. Hope is about 8 weeks old, a long haired tortoiseshell kitten, who had tested positive for FIV, but all medical literature regarding this virus, tells us she may have tested positive from antibodies from her mother and may test negative in a few months. We hope that is the case for her and she is currently housed separately from the other FIV cats. She is a playful and fun kitten. |
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Voodoo.
Voodoo, is a beautiful solid black male cat. He looked pretty beat up and was missing hair that is growing back nicely. He was one of three cats living at Bossier Animal Hospital until rescue could be found. He loves being held and loved on.
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Paisley.
Paisley is a long haired pastel calico. One of the three from Bossier Animal Hospital. She also loves to be cuddled. She is the least shy of the three cats that arrived from the vet clinic. |
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Sunny.
Sunny, is a gorgeous solid orange cat. He also is one of the three from Bossier Animal Hospital. Sunny was pretty shy at first, but he seems to be coming out of his shell. He is very affectionate. |
These cats are all sweet and loving and we are more than happy to give them this opportunity to live out their lives in peace and comfort. We are hoping that our volunteers will give them the love and attention they so richly deserve. The building is being set up like a living room to give a natural feel of home for these cats. Volunteers can just hang out with them. It’s all good for us and the cats. We gain so much from them.
Support a Special Needs Cat: 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 this is why 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.
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.
Sponsors Needed:
Please note that some cats may be sponsored by more than one person, 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 Cats:
Olaf
Gatsby
Paisley
Sunny
VooDoo
Hope
Other Cats (Photos and Bios coming soon)
Powdah
Kitler
Possum
Mini
Biscuits
Caspar
Pia
Layla
Miss Kitty
Cash
Cookie
You can also mail your donations to us at:
Yogie and Friends
128 Fob Lane
Frierson, LA 71027
If you wish to make a donation on a regular basis and do not wish to use PayPal, your bank can set up automatic payments for you.
Our Big Cats: Putty Tat and Gomez, two of our beloved tigers, now have a much larger habitat and they are thrilled. It looks almost like Putty Tat was smiling when he was moved. At a cost of $8500 we think it was well worth it. We are raising the funds to reimburse for this new habitat and appreciate any and all help our fans can provide. You will see in the pics just how nice the new digs are. We will post a gofundme link to help with this.
Adoptable Cats/Kittens: We still have several kittens in foster care that we can use your help with. Many have already been spayed/neutered and are current on vaccinations. Some of these adoptable cats/kittens will be available at Unleashed Premium Pets and Supplies on Benton Road in Bossier City, Louisiana. This way we can ensure they are going to good homes. We have an Amazon Wish List with a list of much needed supplies for these kittens.
Amazon: 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 any 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.
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): CFC is in full swing right now, so if you are a Military member or Federal Employee we hope you will donate to Yogie and Friends via CFC. This program is easy and another good way to give financial assistance to the big cats. We hope you will please consider Yogie and Friends when making your CFC contribution. Our CFC number is 42427.
Kroger Community Rewards Program: Link your Kroger Plus Card for the Community Rewards Program. If you haven’t registered your Kroger Plus Card online yet, then you can do so at any time. Once your card is registered you can go to the Community Rewards Program page, select Yogie and Friends as your charity of choice and then link your Kroger Plus Card to the Rewards program. Every time an enrolled participant shops at Kroger using his or her Kroger Plus card, Yogie and Friends will begin accumulating rewards. In addition, once a household member enrolls his or her card, all linked Kroger Plus cards within that household will begin earning funds for Yogie and Friends. That is if you have selected us as your charity of choice and we sure hope you have. Please make sure you register your Kroger Plus Card on line and then link Yogie and Friends as your charity of choice. This only applies to Texas and Louisiana shoppers for us. Thank you in advance. Our charity NPO number is: 80724
Recycle Ink Cartridges and Cell Phones: Please consider helping us with our recycling program. Please don’t throw those old ink jet/laser jet cartridges in the trash. Give them to us. 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.
Upcoming Events:
TBD 11am – 4pm Eat a (hot) Dog, Save a Cat
Parking Lot of Discount Tobacco
1201 Shady Grove, Bossier City
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.
The Yogie and Friends Gang!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter
May 2015 Newsletter
Hello Friends!
We are sad to report the loss of one of our volunteer staff, David Patterson on April 2nd after a long illness. Dave was the husband of our vice president, Vicki Volk. We will miss Dave very much. Yogie staff is not just staff. We are family and this is another hard loss for us all. R.I.P. Dave.
Yogie and Friends has taken the first steps in what we had long planned for the sanctuary after the eventual natural passing of our big cats. We are doing so earlier than planned since we don’t have the big cats at our Louisiana facility. We still continue to support them financially and visit them often. They are safe and well. We still really need your financial support for our big cats. We appreciate those who have been doing so and hope that we gain more support from others.
Special Needs Cats: One plan we have always been preparing for at Yogie and Friends is helping domestic cats. That’s why several years ago we created our Domestic Animal Program (DAP) division for feral and special needs cats. There are often cats with special needs that do not get adopted, but still need a good home. One big issue is disease. There are cats that will test positive for Feline Leukemia or Feline Aids (FIV). Cats may test positive, but this is NOT a death sentence for the animals. But, many people fear these issues and will not adopt an otherwise very loving and adoptable cat. There are many reasons a cat may test positive. There are people who will adopt only positive cats and these cats do very well in these homes. These cats will go to homes with other positive cats so they don’t infect cats that do not have the viruses. What we are doing here at Yogie and Friends is we are homing positive cats together who have not been adopted. Our first FIV positive cat is a feral from a colony near my home. He was shy at first, then warmed up to me, and is now one of the most loving cats I have ever met. During one recent visit at the feral buffet I noticed his front right leg was injured. He was very easy to handle and I took him to our vet, Dr. Wise. There was no obvious cause for the injury, but during X-rays they did see a bullet in another part of his leg. It breaks our hearts to see things like this. We’ve named this cat, Olaf, and he has been neutered, ear tipped, vaccinated, and dewormed. Olaf has been recovering in my house and he will be moved to Yogie and Friends this weekend in his new home. We will also be bringing in another FIV cat currently living at the vet clinic named, Gatsby. These are two of the sweetest boys and our goal is to give these special needs cats a permanent home filled with love and care. They are available for adoption, but it will be a special adopter. Olaf is a white, flame point and Gatsby is a tuxedo cat. We will post pics of them in their new home at Yogie once we get them settled in.
Our Big Cats: Putty Tat and Gomez, two of our beloved tigers, now have a much larger habitat and they are thrilled. It looks almost like Putty Tat was smiling when he was moved. At a cost of $8500 we think it was well worth it. We are raising the funds to reimburse for this new habitat and appreciate any and all help our fans can provide. You will see in the pics just how nice the new digs are. We will post a gofundme link to help with this.
Adoptable Cats/Kittens: We still have several kittens in foster care that we can use your help with. Many have already been spayed/neutered and are current on vaccinations. Some of these adoptable cats/kittens will be available at Unleashed Premium Pets and Supplies on Benton Road in Bossier City, Louisiana. This way we can ensure they are going to good homes. We have an Amazon Wish List with a list of much needed supplies for these kittens.
Amazon: 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 any 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.
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): CFC is in full swing right now, so if you are a Military member or Federal Employee we hope you will donate to Yogie and Friends via CFC. This program is easy and another good way to give financial assistance to the big cats. We hope you will please consider Yogie and Friends when making your CFC contribution. Our CFC number is 42427.
Kroger Community Rewards Program: Link your Kroger Plus Card for the Community Rewards Program. If you haven’t registered your Kroger Plus Card online yet, then you can do so at any time. Once your card is registered you can go to the Community Rewards Program page, select Yogie and Friends as your charity of choice and then link your Kroger Plus Card to the Rewards program. Every time an enrolled participant shops at Kroger using his or her Kroger Plus card, Yogie and Friends will begin accumulating rewards. In addition, once a household member enrolls his or her card, all linked Kroger Plus cards within that household will begin earning funds for Yogie and Friends. That is if you have selected us as your charity of choice and we sure hope you have. Please make sure you register your Kroger Plus Card on line and then link Yogie and Friends as your charity of choice. This only applies to Texas and Louisiana shoppers for us. Thank you in advance. Our charity NPO number is: 80724
Recycle Ink Cartridges and Cell Phones: Please consider helping us with our recycling program. Please don’t throw those old ink jet/laser jet cartridges in the trash. Give them to us. 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.
Upcoming Events:
TBD 11am – 4pm Eat a (hot) Dog, Save a Cat
Parking Lot of Discount Tobacco
1201 Shady Grove, Bossier City
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.
The Yogie and Friends Gang!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter
April 2015 Update
Hello Yogie Friends!
Yogie and Friends has to sadly announce the very sad loss of our beloved Bengal tiger, Samson. Samson came to us with his half-sister, Delilah, in January 2001. He couldn’t walk and was emaciated. He was nursed back to health and lived a good life with us. He held a special place in our hearts with his amazing loving and gentle personality. He loved to put on a show for visitors. He loved swimming in his pool and playing with his ball. He was over 20 years old and we are happy he had that long of a life considering his rough start in life. We will miss him more than anyone can know. Rest in peace our beloved boy, Samson. June 1994-29 March 2015. You will not be forgotten.
Feral Community Cats: Several of us here at Yogie and Friends have experienced some personal family losses recently. Due to family illnesses and sadly, deaths, we have not had an opportunity to do as much trap-spay/neuter-release (TNR) of feral community cats as we would like. The weather has also not been conducive to TNR. We don’t like to trap when the weather is extreme. If you would like to help us with this effort we would be more than happy to train you. If you have experience with TNR we would love to have your help. We humanely trap the cats, and then take them to Robinson’s Rescue or our veterinarian to be spay/neutered, they receive a rabies vaccination, and are ear tipped, which lets us know the cat has been fixed. Sometimes we catch the same cat and the ear tip is a universal sign the animal has already been spayed or neutered. This is an important service to help reduce the feral cat population. A well-managed feral cat community is a good thing. They also serve a purpose. They are not the worst thing you can have in your neighborhood, but we certainly would love to reduce this population humanely. The way to do that is through TNR. Please let us know if you can help.
Spring Bake Sale: Our spring bake sale and fundraiser will be Saturday, April 4th, from 11am-4pm at Petco on Youree Drive, Shreveport. Funds raised will be used to help with TNR of feral community cats.
Book Raffle: We are raffling off another autographed, first edition, John Grisham book. His newest book is Gray Mountain. Tickets are just $2 each and you can get them by mailing a check or money to: Yogie and Friends Grisham Raffle, 128 Fob Lane, Frierson, LA 71027. Tickets will also be available at our spring bake sale as well as Discount Tobacco, 1201 Shady Grove Drive, Bossier City, Louisiana. Be sure to LEGIBLY write your information on a card or piece of paper to include your name, mailing address (in case we need to mail the book to you), and current phone contact so we can contact you if you win. Drawing will be held at Petco on Youree Drive, Shreveport on April 4th at 4pm. Winner need not be present to win.
Our Big Cats: Yogie and Friends is still supporting our big cats that we have in boarding at a friend’s 16 acre facility in Oklahoma. They are doing very well and we visit with them often. They are happy and healthy and have a good facility so we can rest assured no harm comes to them. We hope you can understand why we moved them away from danger from animal rights activists who did not want them in Louisiana. They are our beloved cats and their safety and well-being were our first priority. They were no longer safe in Louisiana. Our fans were great and we appreciate them.
Adoptable Cats/Kittens: We have approximately 17 kittens currently in foster care. Many have already been spayed/neutered and are current on vaccinations. Some of these adoptable cats/kittens will be available at Unleashed Premium Pets and Supplies on Benton Road in Bossier City, Louisiana. This way we can ensure they are going to good homes.
Facebook: We have discontinued our Facebook page due threat made against our volunteers and big cats. At this time we have no intention of creating another page.
Amazon: 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 any 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.
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): CFC is in full swing right now, so if you are a Military member or Federal Employee we hope you will donate to Yogie and Friends via CFC. This program is easy and another good way to give financial assistance to the big cats. We hope you will please consider Yogie and Friends when making your CFC contribution. Our CFC number is 42427.
Kroger Community Rewards Program: Link your Kroger Plus Card for the Community Rewards Program. If you haven’t registered your Kroger Plus Card online yet, then you can do so at any time. Once your card is registered you can go to the Community Rewards Program page, select Yogie and Friends as your charity of choice and then link your Kroger Plus Card to the Rewards program. Every time an enrolled participant shops at Kroger using his or her Kroger Plus card, Yogie and Friends will begin accumulating rewards. In addition, once a household member enrolls his or her card, all linked Kroger Plus cards within that household will begin earning funds for Yogie and Friends. That is if you have selected us as your charity of choice and we sure hope you have. Please make sure you register your Kroger Plus Card on line and then link Yogie and Friends as your charity of choice. This only applies to Texas and Louisiana shoppers for us. Thank you in advance. Our charity NPO number is: 80724
Recycle Ink Cartridges and Cell Phones: Please consider helping us with our recycling program. Please don’t throw those old ink jet/laser jet cartridges in the trash. Give them to us. 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.
Upcoming Events:
John Grisham Autographed
First Edition novel Gray Mountain
Raffle Tickets are $2.00 each
Drawing to be held at the Spring
Bake Sale at Petco.
4 April 2015 11am-4pm Spring Bake Sale and Fundraiser
Petco, 6596 Youree Drive
Shreveport, LA
TBD 11am – 4pm Eat a (hot) Dog, Save a Cat
Parking Lot of Discount Tobacco
1201 Shady Grove, Bossier City
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.
The Yogie and Friends Gang!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter