Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Good Morning Good News !!!! December 11, 2013



Is it really only two weeks till Christmas?  I’m getting kind of worried.  I think maybe I haven’t been good enough this year.  I don’t have enough to give everybody at Rikki’s Refuge a present. 

I want to give every cat a can of their very own, and every doggy a nice big bone to chew on and every cow some delicious hay and every piggy ... well a whole bucket of slop !!!!

I can’t do it without your help.  Please don’t let anyone go hungry ...

Will YOU help me feed everybody ?

If you have even a small donation left for us after your Christmas Shopping, I’d be so grateful.  I don’t want to let all my friends here at Rikki’s down ....

I need your help so much right now .....   http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php

Thank you !!!  I always love you very much, Opie ... who really want’s to be Santa to them all



Don’t forget to VOTE today !!!!!
Click on Vincent to cast your vote for Rikkis Refuge, VA, USA .....  be a winner for the animals !!!! 

If you set up an account under this link, we could win an additional $1,000 too !!!!
Your daily vote is very much needed.
$1,000 go so very far at Rikki’s --- and your votes make that possible.  Without YOU ... there would be no food, no medical care .....  no animals ....




PHOTOS WITH SANTA
Saturday, December 14, 2013 11 am - 4 pm, Central Park, Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA at PetSmart ... Rikki's is doing Pet Photos with Santa ....... come on down and get your photo !!!!! Bring your MOST exotic friend !!!!   Benefits the animals of Rikki’s



I love snuggling with Mom and hearing the stories of how Rikki’s came to be ...    what it was like in the early days .... about all YOU wonderful people who made it possible .... about all the animals saved ....    I’m sharing my scratches about Rikki’s Refuge .... 15 Years in the Making with you as much as I can paw in at one sitting .....  if you missed Part I or II  ....  you can catch up here http://rikkisrefuge.blogspot.com/2013/12/rikkis-refuge-15-years-in-making.html and read from the beginning.

We ended last time hearing mom say, “... 30,500 lives saved, since we first started clearing up that poison ivy.“

Rikki’s Refuge ....  15 Years in the Making    ....    Part III

But it doesn’t stop there either. 

We work with other shelters, rescues, organizations, to help them save more.  We teach the things we’ve learned about managing so many animals.  How to manage feral cats in a shelter instead of euthanize, why TNR is THE way to go, how to get them home or to good colony situations.  In the animal world what people fear, people kill.  When we teach understanding of ferals, we dispel that fear, we give them options, we give them a chance for life.


We teach management of fiv, feline leukemia, acceptance of elderly and handicapped animals for the adoption roster, not the euthanasia list.  We teach rescues to work well with pounds and shelters.  The contention between the two so often leads to the death of animals.  When they understand and respect one another, they can work together towards saving more lives. 

We teach disease management in large groups of animals, quarantine control, cleaning protocols.  Every new animal group will go through the same problems, they can reinvent it all, losing lives in the process, or they can learn from the experienced.  When you’ve been there, you know what works and what doesn’t.  I thank God every day for the valuable insights I learned from others, from spending time at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, from visiting sanctuaries across the country, from the long, long lists the really outstanding Directors told me of things NOT to do .... 

Yes, you’d think what TO do might be more important?   I mean taking care of animals is pretty obvious anyway, isn’t it?   Yet so many of those obvious things lead to disaster.  Disaster and lives lost that will happen if you keep learning from scratch.  I took those lists of DO NOTs to heart.  So often the plan warned against would come up in plans and designs and I’d remember, “Oh they said DON’T” ....   Sometimes I wouldn’t really see why this or that was a real no-no.  Later I’d always learn and see, had I not listened and not learned from those who’d gone before me, someone would have been injured or died. 

How many animals have been saved through information we’ve shared with others working to save animals?  I have no idea.  There’s no way to compute those numbers.  But I can tell you it’s thousands and thousands.  No doubt tens of thousands over the years.
.....

WOW -- so that means YOUR support helps save the lives of domestic animals like me, farm animals like Mikey the Goat, all kinds of wildlife AND animals that end up in other shelters in close by and far away places. 



Whose life would YOU like to save today?

Isn’t it wonderful to be a part of Rikki’s and know that YOU are helping others to create the same kind of paradise on earth AND avoid mistakes that can ruin it!

Your donation today WILL ENABLE ANOTHER LIFE to be saved.

Thank YOU for keeping Rikki’s alive and helping others stay alive too!

On line donations are easy at www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate  you can even sign up for a life saving monthly recurring donation!!!

I’m always happy to hear the check is in the mail!  Rikki’s Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960

Credit cards are accepted on line at www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate or over the phone. 

You can call me directly at 540-854-0870 x5 to make sure your credit info is kept confidential.



Now Taking Reservations
Also Christmas Tour at noon on the 25th.  This is ONE tour and is not an open house.  Tickets are required in advance.  Email to mail@rikkisrefuge.org for your ticket application, please mention which day in your request !!  Complimentary tickets to Rikki’s Family Members and to those who have visited on Christmas Day before.

You can also reserve for our traditional New Years Day Nature Hike now: mail@rikkisrefuge.org

The December 14th Full Moon Walk is cancelled cuz it’s gonna be too overcast to see where we’re walking.



EVERY Saturday !
Sign up as a docent to stand by and accept donations at our Education Center !   Easy, clean and climate controlled.   Mail@RikkisRefuge.org

This week we are in really desperate need of canned cat food.  I know, it’s always all about cats!  That’s not really so ... it’s just that there are so many of them that they eat more.  Doggies are getting canned nums too and thank you Mosby Foundation for running the food bank and for your recent generous donation of dry dog food.  And a great big huge monster hug to Paul Erhard, Mike Wood and Jack Buckhorn who braved the wintery ick yesterday to drive over the mountain and pick it up and bring it back to Rikki's !!!! 

The dogs are laughing at the cats ....  they’ve got plenty to eat ....  the cats are having to ration ...

Won’t YOU help US ?




THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME TO SAVE SO MANY LIVES
... with your support we’re able to help so many into their new furrever happy homes ....  and to give that life long home to those not quite so fortunate ...  Thank you for your support
Without YOU none of us would be looking forward to Christmas this year  !!

Love you bunches,
           Opie

2013 is the Year of the Purr ....

Join the movement ... we’re adding purr to planet earth !
 Look! It's a great car magnet with the world's most loved cat -- Vincent Cat!!!!
"What Would Vincent Do?"
He'd "Purr More, Hiss Less".

Magnet is $5 each, plus shipping (65-cents for 1 magnet, $1.05 for 2 for U.S. addresses). For other shipping costs (international, or for more than 2 magnets) contact Melissa Felts dogslife24@comcast.net  with your zip code and how many you want.     Purchase your magnet TODAY right here http://rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php


Don't be the LAST person on your block
to have a PURR MORE HISS LESS magnet on your car!
Order YOURS today !!

THE BEST STOCKING STUFFER EVER !!!!!