I’m Vincent D. Cat and here to make you happy! You are HEROES! You work hard every day and you deserve to smile every day! Those of you working to save us animals hear so very many very sad things. And there’s lots of very glad things too and that’s what we talk about here! All pawsitive all the time! I want my friends to be happy and smile and know there’s a lot of good - including YOU - in this world!! Be kind and pass it on! Please send me your Good New and Fun Stuff to share, personal or global. Let’s keep it fun and interactive!! After all, if we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane! Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org
My Favorite Quote, Today
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
--- Thomas Edison
And look at how close we are!!!!
Only $3,736.88 left to go!!!
75% of the way there!!
That’s almost to the Finish Line !!!
Go Go Go
Come on - enlist your friends!! Together we CAN do it !!!
Double Your Donations Challenge
This is it my friends LAST CHANCE - log your donation in by midnight!!
If you’re mailing a check today, it will count if you date your check with the day you write it!!
Join my Army!
Refuge News
Another nice warm day on the farm!!!! Yippeee !!!! Mom and me did a photo session of my with all my Amazon pressies. Out to you SOON I promise !!!!
Remember I told you last week about the nice lady who passed away and who’s outdoor kitties we’re working on trapping. Four more have been trapped so it’s road trip today to go bring those to their new safe home at Rikki’s Refuge. They’ll be so glad to meet up with their three friends who’ve already made it here. The poor kitties are very scared and not going in the traps as quick as we’d hoped.
Wrapping It Up With Santa and Trees
The wrappers at Barnes and Noble only had two and a partial days and they wrapped enough to run the refuge for a day!!! Yiippeeee!!! Huge thank you to Candy Erhard who orchestrated it and to all you wrappers!!!!
Great big thanks to Melissa Felts and those of you who helped with Santa Claws at PetSmart - you raised enough to run the refuge for a day !!!!
A big thanks to Katarina Galvin for the Angle Tree Program that brought in truck loads of nums!! You’re feeding us!!
These are the kind of events you can participate in anywhere in the country - or even the world to help raise the funds to support the animals.
During the year tabling events are great - sitting outside stores handing out flyers and accepting donations! Bake sale, garage sales. Going to events, Wine Festivals, Craft Festivals - anywhere people are - hand out brochures and have a collection can handy!! That’s all it takes. So many people are happy to help and make a donation if only they knew about us!
Fun and Inspiring
Have you started making your New Year Resolutions?
I’ve started a list ......
I want to make you happy and make you smile every day in 2011.
I want to eat Fancy Feast for breakfast every day in 2011.
I want the word of Rikki’s Refuge to spread so more and more donors and volunteers are helping us every day in 2011.
I want to eat Fancy Feast for lunch every day in 2011.
I want to meet each and every one of you purrsonally in 2011.
I want to eat Fancy Feast for supper every day in 2011.
Sometimes we know what our resolutions should be and have just been avoiding making that promise to ourselves.
And sometimes we have to learn the hard way.
Did You Know?
Ostriches stick their heads into the sand to find underground drinking water.
Seems like a strange place to me to find water!!! I’m glad I get nice fresh water at least twice a day at Rikki’s!!!
Cute Baby Owl
A little late but too good to miss
Meet Baby Elliot and Osiris
Baby Elliot has been with us a few years. He’s one BIG boy. And with all that yak like fur you’d think he loves the outside world. But NO, not Baby Elliot. He despises the snow and doesn’t think much of the cold either. He does however love to lay on straw and hay and was thrilled when Ivory the sheep was sick and had to come inside CUZ he got to sleep in the hay and in the warm!!!
Baby Elliot tests positive for fiv. Fiv is spread by un-neutered street males. Most of our fiv kitties are middle aged and older former toms. They live very healthy active lives and don’t seem to have any health problems negative kitties do. The leading cause of death for fiv cats is being murdered in shelters cuz they test positive. We’re working to educate folks that it’s fine to let the fiv kitties live. After all they’re going to live a purrfectly normal natural life and likely live to be 15-20 years old - if you just let them!!
Osiris and siblings came to us in 2010. Due to a genetic disease only Osiris and sister Mystique are still with us. They seemed to have stopped growing and this just might be what’s saved them.
We never know how long any of us have to live on this planet. We all want to live for ever and we want our friends to live for ever too. But sometimes that’s just not the way it is. Some critters who were born to young mothers who were starving while pregnant and exposed to all kinds of diseases while tiny babies have a lot of problems and defects that will often make them small and make their life span short. Maybe 1 or 3 or 5 years instead of 10 or 15 or 20. It’s one of those things you can’t control.
But I’ll tell you how it is at Rikki’s Refuge - no matter how long your life span - we promise to love you and care for you the whole time !!!!
Good Times in the News
Canada goose rescued in Massachusetts
From: The Animal Rescue Site
A Canada goose in Massachusetts got some much-needed help from some kind-hearted people, Boston.com reports.
According to the news source, frigid temperatures caused the winged creature to become stuck in a pond at the Breakheart Reservation in Saugus. After a number of passersby noticed the bird's predicament, they contacted the Animal League of Boston.
"He was there maybe two or three days beforehand," senior rescue technician Mike Vogal told the news outlet. "I guess someone went out the day before to rescue the goose." He added that they most likely did not have the proper equipment to help the animal.
Vogal and his team reportedly crawled 300 feet out on the frozen water and used a net to pull the goose out to safety. The animal rescue official told the news outlet that the bird is doing fine and will likely be released back into the wild shortly.
Canada geese are defined by their large black necks and black head, crown and bill. They are extremely common in North American city parks and most tend to migrate south during the winter.
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Dear Vincent
Do Free Rangers Have Homes?
Lots of you have questions about Rikki’s Refuge. I’ll pick one or two a day to answer here. Ask your questions in the blog comments or sent to me at Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org
QUESTION: All the mascots, the cats and dogs roaming about, where do they live? Everybody else has nice houses in their neighborhoods. Where do the mascots eat and sleep?
ANSWER: The dogs and cats that have free range have access to the 9th Life Center, office and rv - being outside is totally their option. They also have dog houses all around the refuge stuffed with warm straw, beds in the various trailers and storage areas and barns - should they prefer that. The ones who’ve earned their running rights, the mascots, pretty much have the option of going and coming where ever they like. The few exceptions are the ones who are older and thinner or have some kind of issue and are required to stay inside at night when the weather is too hot or too cold.
Feeding can be a bit complex with some of the different personalities. Many of them come inside to dine, but other prefer the great outdoors. Some have to be isolated to eat so nobody takes it away. Some of the dogs are so mellow even the chickens would take their food if they could. And Neia would eat 7 other’s breakfast if she could get away with it!
Upcoming Events
Saturday, noon, Jan 1, Nature Hike
Saturday, noon - 2 pm, Donation Drop-Off, got something to drop off quick? The gates will be unlocked. No tour at this time, just drop off. Donation Drop Off will be available virtually every Saturday from noon - 2 pm in 2011
Saturday evening, celebrate the first at Mariza’s in Spotsylvania
Sunday, noon, Jan 2, Tour of the Refuge with Katarina. This is the first of our mini weekly tours. Sundays at noon, unless there’s been another public event that week.
Because I Love YOU
I’m gonna make you laugh!
Love,
Vincent
PS You tell me what you want! Email me at Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org with instructions to change your subscription: additions, deletions or modifications! Subscriptions: Vincent’s VIPs - up to the second alerts about issues at Rikki’s Refuge for those who care and want to be intimately involved. Scheduled as needed. Good Morning Good News - a little something to get you going in the mornings, for those of you who want to keep smiling with us! Scheduled daily. Hairballs - so you know what’s coming up at Rikki’s! Scheduled weekly.
Rikki's Refuge, supported solely by private donations, houses over 1200 animals of 22 species. On line at http://bit.ly/Give-a-gift-to-Rikkis Checks, money orders, cash, items at Rikki's Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960
Rikki's Refuge is owned and operated by Life Unlimited of Virginia, Inc., an IRS 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Virginia Corporation, tax-id 54-1911042. Combined Federal Campaigns #77674, Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign #3163, PetsMart Charities #1377. A financial statement is available upon written request from the State Office of Consumer Affairs.
Learn more www.RikkisRefuge.org and help spread the good word, tell everyone you know about Rikki’s Refuge
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