Sunday, March 11, 2007

What a Silly Idea, says Ron The Cat Man !!!

Who needs to make an effort to be a Human Cat Tree? Like so much feline, this comes natural to Ron. Rikki's Director of Serving Cats, is as much at home at Rikki's Refuge as he is at home in his miniature sanctuary. Not that most of you would consider the number of his occupants miniature!

Come out and help Ron improve, remodel, and build more space for our Feline Friends. (PS Cat Ladies - check out that smile - and he's single !!!) Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, next Open House and Sponsor Appreciation Day April 28 from 12 to 4. 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Inspired by Wayne, the Human Cat Tree Contest !!!!

Between now and Sponsor Appreciation Day on April 28, come visit the animals. Get your photo taken with the most number of animals possible sitting, climbing, or sleeping on you. Photos will hang in the gift shop. At 3 p.m. on April 28 the winners will be chosen. All winners will receive a custom Rikki's T-shirt in their favorite size and color. Winners will be in the categories of: Most Number of Species Piled on Me, Most Number of Animals on Me, Most Number of Animals on My Head, and Most Unusual and Creative Pose.

Come on out and join the fun !!! No complaints about paw prints !!!!

Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, next Open House and Sponsor Appreciation Day April 28 from 12 to 4. 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

March Is Build the Best Little Cat Tree in Town Month!

Use your imagination to build the Best Little Cat Tree in Town for either the 9th Life Retirement, Assisted Living and Psychiatric Center cats or the cats in the Cat Houses of Feline Fields. Indoors, we have finally given up trying to fight the cats. Cats like Meg, who know how to open file cabinets. Cats like Vincent, who loves to shred boxes. Cats like Timmy, who look to spill coffee on computers. Cats like Gertrude, who shred rolls of paper towels and toilet paper. Cats like Mariah, who can't help but when she drips diarrhea about. Cats like Bucky, who prefer to eject their hairballs from the highest possible location. Cats like Francesca, who think anything plastic must be a litterbox. Cats like Shadow, just as soon pee on a door as walk through one. Cats like Neka, who eat more paper than the goats do. Cats like Quincy, who drool on everything. And the list goes on.

Cages are going up to protect the human type supplies. The office things, the paperwork, the medications, all the things that enjoy life much better not covered in cat puke or worse will be hidden behind wire. Every room is being rearranged. The human furniture is all being disposed of. Every room has had couches, with covers that need washing every day.

From now on it's going to be cat friendly or to the dump!!!! There are a few requirements for building the Best Little Cat Tree in Town. Some human requirements. It must be easy for humans to move to clean around and under it (unless it's a structure permanently attached to the walls of the cat runs). It must be relatively easy to clean. For example the average lifespan of a couch in the 9th Life Retirement, Assisted Living and Psychiatric Center is 12 days. It must not have hidey holes that make it any more difficult to extract feral cats attempting to avoid their medication. No Moray Eel traps, where one would stick in their hands and be horribly bitten, before they even knew there was a feral hiding in there.

And there are some cat requirements. It must be fun to climb and sleep on. No dangerous surfaces, nails sticking out, or anything they can get hurt on, or stuck in. It must be stable, so it will not fall over and hurt them. No parts that can be chewed off and swallowed.

Design your Cat Tree, build your prototypes, test it on your cats, tweak out the mistakes, rebuild your Cat Tree, and when it finally is really and truly the Best Little Cat Tree in Town, bring it down to Rikki's Refuge for our cats to try out. The humans and the cats will collaborate together to pick the best cat tree of all. Be sure your tree is here and in place before the March 31st tour (it's at one o'clock). Visitors on the tour will get a chance to vote for the Best Little Cat Tree in Town.

All cat trees will be shown on line and the builder of the Best Little Cat Tree in Town - will win, what else, a cat! Well, how about a Rikki’s sweatshirt - in the size and color of your choice!

Get your hammers and saws out and get to building! Don't miss the next tour, where you can see all the competitors designs. Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, RSVP 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

See the Purple Barn?


See the Purple Barn?
Originally uploaded by rikkis_refuge.
See the patches on the Purple Barn? That's where the delightful goats ate the siding off the barn. They are cute aren't they? They now live at Rikki's Refuge, because they are not good lawnmowers. Cityfolk turned countryfolk often think they will simply get a goat to do their yardwork. Goats do not work for humans. Goats will only eat grass as a last resort. After they had eaten all of your trees, flowers, bushes, windowsills, car antennas, car molding, cell phones, garden hoses, .... well, you get the picture! And that's why the bad goats end up at Rikki's Refuge!

Mark your calendar, meet the bad goats! Come and feed the bad goats! Bring your own trees! Cell phones! Carrots! Bananas! Peanut butter sandwiches! Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, RSVP 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Oak Branch Used to Make Peace

... and hopefully keep the goats for breaking down my well fencing. As soon as I pulled out the branch and handed it over, Sammy, Gruffy and the gang went to work chomping down. Mark your calendar, come and feed the goats! Bring your own trees! Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, RSVP 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Thank You Pete and Friends,


Thank You Pete and Friends,
Originally uploaded by rikkis_refuge.
or building the fence around the well. One of our requirements was to fence off the new well, to keep animals from doing naughty things nearby. Well, if you know goats, you know they want to get into everything. Put a fence around it and they are convinced it's even more delicious. So here they are, the day after the new fence went up, circling around at daybreak. They circle a fenced tree the same way sharks circle surfers. Just waiting and plotting, ready to attack at any moment.

I walked out to snap a few photos of the goats trying to get in the new fence, and discovered a branch had fallen in last night’s windstorm. It was the most delicious oak branch on the entire property. And the one branch they could not reach.

Mark your calendar, meet the bad goats! Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, RSVP 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Can Snoopy Live with You?


Can Snoopy Live with You?
Originally uploaded by rikkis_refuge.
Nobody knows what Snoopy is. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. Maybe Mama was dashing dachshund and daddy was a traveling beagle boy. But whatever she is, she sure is cute. A senior girl, already spayed, at lease nine or 10 years old, solid black with a gray face. She's just a little dog, and she'd love to snooze on your couch. She's a very overweight hotdog looking dog. Short little legs, big fat belly, and big beautiful black eyes. She's an owner turn in, because they want a new puppy this spring. She's housebroken, good with other dogs, and with kids, and a very well-behaved lady.

We don’t yet have Snoopy’s photo, but here Prince and Lincoln show their love and appreciation for having been rescued.

Call Beth at the Orange County Animal Shelter 540-672-1124 to make arrangements to visit Snoopy today.

Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, RSVP 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Cringles the Pony is Counting on You to Save Her Life

She's a 10-year-old blind pony, 13 hands high, solid black and loves kids. Her beloved owners are planning on murdering her soon. They have four kids, of the human variety, one who was a special needs child. I got this pony as therapy for the child. She is blind and very gentle and would be ideal for such a situation. The four kids in the family used to love her and brush her and play with her all the time. The three-year-old would walk underneath her belly. But as time wore on the pony became “boring”, and nobody wanted to play with her anymore. For the last couple of years she has lived just locked up in the barn with very little contact. She's restless and frustrated, and is behaving a bit agitated right now.

But if we can get her out of this environment I am sure she will make a loving pet for the rest of her life, which could be a very long time. Is there anyone out there who can adopt this precious girl?

There are two possibilities for her at Rikki's also, but I need your help. The 12 acres of Bovine Boulevard has lush pastures, but is also shared by Jasper and Jezebel a feisty, and sometimes naughty, donkey and mule. Being blind, any transition is going to be difficult, and I worry that this duo may torment her.

Jasper and Jezebel pretty much destroyed Horsey Haven. They ate the siding off the little barn. No, it was not funny. First they chewed through a couple of windows to stick their heads out. Then they simply kicked and ate away the rest of the siding. They also have done a great deal of damage to the fencing. So before Cringle could live here, we'd need help rebuilding their little barn and redoing the fencing.

The other possibility would be Ramsey Residence. Usually the only folks staying in here are Joseph Conrad, the sheep with degenerative arthritis in his knee, and a friend or two. The fencing should be good enough for her here, but the shelter would be an adequate. The sheep houses would require Cringle to duck to get in, and that's not good because she's blind. So before she could live in this area we would need to build a little barn.

She will also need some medical work before coming to Rikki's. It must be done beforehand, because we do not have adequate facilities to isolate a pony, just in case there was something contagious.

If you can adopt Cringle please contact Beth at the Orange County Animal Shelter 540-672-1124 or if you can make it possible for her to live at Rikki's please contact us 540-854-0870 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org.

We have to do something pretty quickly, the owners are willing to relinquish the pony Providing it happens before their scheduled date to murder her. Just think of how many fewer children there would be in the world if murder was an option for your obnoxious two-year-old or the 16-year-old who just wrecked your car. It never ceases to stun me, that murder, is a viable, legal and easily available option to “get rid of” a beloved pet.

Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - 540-854-0870 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Fall in Love with Sasha


Fall in Love with Sasha
Originally uploaded by rikkis_refuge.
We just received a 12 year old, spayed female, red Doberman. She is an indoor-only house dog, well behaved and housebroken and , used to children. She is overweight and very cute! She does have a big fatty tumor on her chest but supposedly it was non-cancerous when tested three months ago (no vet records provided so ya never know). She was surrendered by her owners because she is becoming unable to hold her bladder. They did not take her to the vet (I told them about Proin, which often solves this problem, but they just wanted to get rid of her). Doberman Rescue will not take anyone over 8 years old. What in the world! The Seniors are the BEST!!! This poor girl will be here forever and the last place she needs to be is here in a kennel. Ugh! Any ideas out there????? Won’t one of you take her home? Please!! Call Beth at the Orange County Animal Shelter 540-672-1124 to make arrangements to visit Sasha today.

Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, RSVP 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Adriana Begins Life Again as Abbey

When Deb decided to give Adriana a new life, she decided to start with a new name, and Adriana became Abbey. Abby is now learning to get along with her new brothers and getting lots of love and attention from her new Mom. And this time Deb will see that it is truly a Forever Home.

Many other cats and dogs wait at pounds and shelters all across the country to fall in love with you. Please visit your local pound or shelter today, and take somebody special home.

Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, RSVP 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Deb Came to Meet Adriana


Deb Came to Meet Adriana
Originally uploaded by rikkis_refuge.
And when their eyes met, something clicked. Deb held out her hand and Adriana came to sniff. Deb held out some food and Adriana ate. Up until now force-feeding had been required to keep Adriana alive. For the first time in weeks she was eating. Deb had fallen in love. Adriana had fallen in love. She was going to get a new life!

Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, RSVP 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Featured Creature Adriana


Featured Creature Adriana
Originally uploaded by rikkis_refuge.
Three years old weighing in at just barely 5 pounds. A cute little tiger tabby girl, with big sad eyes. Once upon a time she had been loved.

But her person got tired of her, irritated at having to take care of her and too involved in her personal life to give her any attention. Soon her human began to complain that Adriana didn't get along well with others. Nobody stopped to think that maybe poor Adriana just needed some love and attention.

But instead of love and attention, Adriana got the boot. Her “beloved” owner dumped her at the pound. Stunned and heartbroken, Adriana cowered in the corner of her cage, terrified for her very life.

Adriana needed someone special who to take her into their heart and into their home.

Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, RSVP 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Rikki’s Regurgitations ...

.. certainly seemed like a more suitable name for the newsletter to most of the creatures out here. Oh well, who cares what you call us, as long as it's not late for dinner. Don't be as lazy as our buddy here, come on out and volunteer at Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, RSVP 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org

Rikki’s Reflections


Rikki’s Reflections
Originally uploaded by rikkis_refuge.
Meg pops out of the file cabinet to announce the winning name for the printed Newsletter. Rikki’s Reflections. We had lot’s of great names to choose from and more of you voted on this name than any other (except Rikki’s Regurgitations, which out judges kept disqualifying). Meet Meg and her evil office friends at Rikki's Refuge No Kill Animal Sanctuary, www.RikkisRefuge.org - Next tour March 31, 2007 1 PM, RSVP 540-854-0870 x2 or mail@RikkisRefuge.org