Who isn't happy at
Rikki's? The turkeys showed their
appreciation on Christmas by talking to the visitors on our tour. They're saying THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
for saving our lives !!! And THANK YOU
for not serving us and our cousins on your table !! All turkeys should have the chance to be as happy as these guys
and gals at Rikki's Refuge !!!!!
“Had an amazing time with my
family this Christmas! We were SO HAPPY!”
Benjamin Cloth, the hooman in the video !!
Merry Christmas everybody ...... this really was the
best Christmas ...... Santa got it right!
Conference with a cat
Strolling along with the tour
The turkeys were in fine form today .... following
the tour ..... talking and saying thank you for having a cruelty free
Christmas!
Inter-Species Friendships
aren’t just for the birds at Rikki’s.
The diversity of friendship and love always amaze our visitors. Cats and dogs. Horses and cows. Donkeys
and cats. Chickens and dogs.
The sun was streaming down
one everyone Christmas Day, it was a gloriously marvelous day in so many ways.
STOP
!!!
We
interrupt this newsletter
for some
fabulous late breaking news !!!!
Rikki's Refuge $32,768 Double Donation
Challenge!
IT’S BACK .... END OF THE YEAR DOUBLE DONATION CHALLENGE!
NOW through MIDNIGHT 12/31/14
WOW we never know what
number our fantastic supporters will pick !!!!! This is short notice ... but all TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donations from
right this second ... thru Midnight Wednesday .... will be DOUBLED .... but only
up to $32,768 ... it’s a magic number
to be sure !!!
If we can meet this
challenge ..... and we can win all the sponsors money .... all $32,768 ..... if we can leave them NOTHING to go on vacation with .....
YOUR generosity will support ALL the animals with ALL their needs for FIFTY Days !!!
Normally YOU would need to
donate $1300 to take care of all 1300 animals for ONE DAY ......
NOW a Donation of ONLY $650 ....
will provide every possible need for
every animal here for a WHOLE
DAY !!!!
BUT WAIT .... if a WHOLE day is too much ....
You can support the animals
for 12 hours for ONLY $325
!!!
or 8 hours for $216
!!!
$108 will support EVERYONE
for FOUR HOURS !!!
and did you know a donation
of only $27,
when doubled, will support EVERYONE for an HOUR
!!
If $27 is our of your
budget, 12 ½ cents, when doubled, will
buy a MEAL !!!
And that means $1 will buy EIGHT
MEALS today !!!
Don’t miss out .... DOUBLE YOUR
DONATION NOW !!!!
ON-LINE AT
CHECK OR MONEY ORDER MAILED
TO
Rikki's Refuge
PO Box 1357
Orange VA
22960
(envelope must be post
marked by 12/31/14)
CREDIT CARD BY EMAIL:
(name, type of card, card #,
exp. date, cvn, donation amount)
DROP OFF IN PERSON AT RETAIL
IN FREDERICKSBURG:
(by 12/31/14 please!)
Rikki's Refuge Re-Tail
3503 Lafayette Blvd
Fredericksburg VA
22408
(MON-WED: 10:00 AM - 6:00
PM)
WOW
WAS THAT EVER EXCITING NEWS ....
Now back
to our regularly scheduled newsletter !!
our peaceful loving cows
want you know .... It’s a LIE ....
you’ve seen it on billboards .... it’s one big lie .... the cows are NOT asking people to eat
chickens .... they agree with the
chickens and shall stand in line with them in protest ... Friends don’t let
Friends eat Friends !!!!
Christmas was such a
beautiful day! All the hairy and
feathered animals wanted to be out frolicking.
The hooman animals loved strolling with the sun warming their bodies and
the animals warming their hearts.
Betty .... loves tours
Betty came to us from New
York City. She was roaming the streets
and a call went out for Animal Control to pick up this poor lost kitty. Well Betty was not impressed. She snarled and tried to elude the
officer. She was finally caught on the
end of a rabies pole. That’s a long
handle with a nose on the end that you can get around an animals neck, keep
them secure and keep them at a distance so they can’t bite you. It’s used as a last resort when catching an
animal, or when one fears the animal will bite. Well .... Betty, once
again, wasn’t impressed. When the
officer got her into a cage and was attempting to remove the noose ... Betty
bit. That’s called a provoked bite in
the animal biz. I mean, like really,
come on, if the aliens dropped in, chased you down, noosed you, tried to put
you in a cage ..... would you fight for your life? Would you bite?
At any rate, the rules are
the rules and any animal that bites may not be adopted back out into the
city. It may be taken by a rescue
organization that is out of state. But
it will not be allowed to live in the state.
And so Betty sat on death
row. Two things saved her life for a
few days, long enough for that second chance to happen. Being a stray she couldn’t be killed right
away, there is a period of time an animal must be held to give the owner a
chance to find it. This varies from 24
hours in some places to 10 days in others.
And she was on a quarantine hold because she bit. So in that cage she would sit, for ten long
frightening days, as she saw the others being taken from the death row cages
and killed. Can you imagine how that must feel?
Some one at the shelter fell
in love with her. They were desperate
to save her. They knew somebody who’d
heard of us from a friend who’d visited .....
and they sent an email asking if she could come live with us.
We specialize in critters
with issues. The rejects of
society. The ones nobody wants. The ones who have thumbed their nose at
hooman society and will likely be put to death for their comment.
And so shortly after Betty
got out of bite quarantine, we signed all the waivers about a dangerous biting
cat, and Betty got into a carrier and her rescuer drove her to Rikki’s Refuge.
While she was doing her
quarantine here she was restless. No
matter where you are coming from, when you come on the property you have to go
thru a quarantine here. We make sure
you’re up to date on everything and you have no nasty worms or fleas or
anything to spread around. I know it’s
scary to get out of a cage in one place, and have to be in another one here for
two weeks. But it’s one of those lesser
of the two evil things we have to do.
It protects everyone.
Our quarantine is as
friendly as it can be. They have a
spacious building, with big windows, all cages have a window view, where they
can look out and watch the other residents.
They usually feel the peace and joy here, none of that terror in so many
pounds, the joy of animals who’ve found a real home, a place they can call home
forever, a place they are appreciated, not just counted off as one more
number. A place they aren’t seeing
others frightened and dying.
This quarantine period also
gives us a chance to get to know our new residents. To learn their purrsonality.
To figure out where they will be happiest living. Would they want to be adopted to a regular
home? Do they want to live in a cat
house with other kitty friends? Are
they mascot, free range, material? Do
they want to be near people or not?
Betty was lovely. Though we’d made note to be cautious she may
be a biter, we never say any aggressive moves.
Oh, I forgot to tell you. Before
she’d arrived, they’d given her the name Bitey. It was after we got to know her better that she became
Betty. I think she likes that better.
Anyway Betty hates being
confined. Is it because of her ordeal
on death row? Or had she always grown
up in the streets in New York City? Who
knows, she’s not talking much about her past life.
At Rikki’s she loves being a
free range mascot. She’s made herself a
special next in our tool shop. Almost
every out building here has a kitty door.
That’s cuz once upon a time a long time ago, somebody was missing for
dinner one night. We searched and we
called and we were really upset. We
finally found him in the tool shop.
Somebody had been working, and the kitties love to help with all the
chores, and he’d found a nice place to take a nap .... and been shut in. So to keep that from ever happening again,
we put kitty doors everywhere.
Betty doesn’t like other
cats too close to her territory and she patrols her area. She loves the cows and the horses and the
donkeys, especially the donkeys. She
loves spending time with them. And she
loves visitors. She will only come in
the 9th Life Center a couple nights a year when it’s really cold ... like below
zero. Other than that, she says thank
you but no thank you, I’ve got a purrfectly fine and beautiful thick coat and
I’m happy right here !!
Moo moo moo how are you
Here’s a
Contest YOU can Win !!!
Click on the doggy’s nose to enter !!
Enter (YOURSELF and RIKKI'S
REFUGE) for a Chance to Win the Daily Kibble Spread the Love Contest - Simply
fill out the Daily Kibble form (email, first name, zip code and Rikki's Refuge)
by December 31, 2014 to enter for a chance to win a $1,000 Cash Donation for us
and a Mystery Pet Product Prize Package (worth more than $100) for
Yourself!
GGP gets up close with the donkeys !
Bebe and Bub the elderly donkeys had a wonderful day
Did I mention the sun? We had the most beautiful sun streaming on
us for the Christmas tour -- after days of rains and mushy grounds -- we were
blessed with the most beautiful of days.
The feeling of love and good
will you get from the animals while interacting is truly a wonderful Christmas
gift.
Takin a selfie with
BeBe. She’s so loving, her gentle
kindness just draws you in, no one can resist her.
Nums is a highlight of Christmas ..... and any tour
day !!
Baby gets some scritchin
Baby and her twin sister
Stripey are Rikki’s mascots, they like to sleep in the hay with the donkeys,
though in cooler months they spend the night with a hooman in their rv. They’re not real picky, who ever is opening
a door at the right time, they’ll run in with !!
Moose is the most glorious bloodhound ever !!!
Angelina .... she's been
with us 16 years. She came as a
frightened 8 month old who’d lived most of her life in a shelter. She was a fear biter and growled when people
got close. She was happy with male dogs
and got along well as long as she was allowed to be in charge. Female dogs she will not tolerate. It took her a couple years to warm up to
people, and to this day she’s only real friendly with those she knows very
well. It always makes us happy to see
her come out and greet visitors, even if she’s not getting close enough to be
patted. We’re happy she no longer hides
in the back of her house and snarls and trembles in fear. She’s a good girl, she just needs an
environment that’s right for her and people who accept that she will always
prefer to be with dogs and not with hoomans.
Woof Woof
Woof ....
my name is Boomer and I'm BEGGING for YOU VOTE today
!!!
Click on MY Nose to Vote
--- Rikkis Refuge, VA, USA
Patrick
Thank you God for lettin the sun shine on us all
today
A couple of the geese follow the "save
water....bathe with a friend" rule!
Somebody fell in love with Rocky
Feline Fields
Sharing Some Christmas Love
Baby on the top shelf,
Panther on the lower one. Both have
been here for just about forever.
Though friendly and wonderful and in Cat House #1, the Friendly and
Adoptable, they love it right where they are.
They hate being indoors. Love
the weather no matter what it is. Will
play in the snow and even the rain sometimes.
Especially Baby, she loves water.
She splashes in the water bowl and loves to throw water out at other
kitties. Baby is also a sprayer. She’s a girl, though you’d never guess from
her husky handsome looks, and she’s my top sprayer in #1. Many of them in here are, lovely wonderful
kitties, just can’t resist that urge to spray !!!!
Cats Playing, Turkeys Displaying, Geese Walking
Meet Smoky Joe! See that beautiful winter coat? That huge neck ruff? Don’t you just want to snuggle your face
into that ruff? And in the summer he’s
an ordinary short hair tabby !!! He
came in the winter one year. That
summer when he lost all that beautiful long hair and his marvelous ruff, I
checked with his previous mom, yup ... he’s done that every year of his life !!
Cat Magnets
Norman finds a friend
Bahhhhhh
This little kitty loves to
watch the reflections of everybody in the tv screen - she was entertained
during the entire reception !!
Mr Mister takes center stage at the reception
Duke sniffing out the nums table
Tangy sharing Christmas Cheer ... or was that
Purrrzzz ?
The food was good, but the company was better
I just know there something good up there ... I can’t
see it .... but I sure can smell it
Tangy Doing Happy Dance For Whip Cream
Tangy walks Duke over to visit Mary
Duke fell asleep after a belly full of cookies
Christmas Kitty Love
Tangy Sharing Nums ThanksLiving
This video was from our
ThanksLiving Celebration last month .....
it’s the perfect explaination of why YOU belong at Rikki’s Refuge’s Life
Center if you love sharing !!!
It makes
us SMILE when we make YOU happy !!
Thank you to everyone who
helped with the tour/reception yesterday at the Refuge. It was my first visit and having recently
moved to Charlottesville from out of state, it was such a wonderful way to
spend the afternoon.
I was so impressed with
everything:
Overall, it was such a
peaceful, stress-free environment -
such a rarity and such a gift to all of the animals.
The volunteers who took time
on Christmas Day to show us this wonderful space.
Thank you to Melissa for her
excellent tour guide abilities - I was impressed that she has the ability to
keep her ears open to everything and catch everyone’s questions and make sure
they were answered.
The animals - it was
incredible to me that not one animal seemed stressed. Even some of the shy dogs didn’t seemed stressed to me.
Loved the escorts through
the tour - the cats, geese and turkeys.
The grounds - really
impressed on how the space is laid out and the housing.
Thank you again for such a
perfect Christmas gift.
Sincerely,
Nancy
P.S. Thank you for the goodies at the reception -
very tasty!
THANK
YOU EVERYBODY
FOR
MAKING OUR 17th CHRISTMAS
AT
RIKKI’S REFUGE
HAPPY
AND MEMORABLE
!!!!!
THANK YOU
FOR HELPING ME TO
SAVE SO
MANY LIVES
... with your support we’ve
been able to save so many animals ... it’s only with your continued support
that we can continue to care for them each and every day .... Thank you for your kind and generous support
for food, medicine, doctors, cleaning supplies ... and love !!
Without
YOU
none
of us would be here
looking
forward to the New Year !!
THANK YOU !!!!!!
Your donations saved every
one of us and will keep us all alive the rest of this year and into 2015 ....
And remember EVERY
DONATION, up to $32,768 will be DOUBLED thru the end of the year !!!! Please
HELP US stock the pantries now so we don’t struggle thru the winter !!!! Take the Opie Pledge and promise to work each
and every day to make the planet just a little bit better. If the pictures of the animals you have
saved in this issue have made you smile, please take a few moments to make a
donation so we can keep them smiling!!!
www.RikkisRefuge.org/FeedMe
Love,
Opie
PS I
want you to know something very important.
We always spend your funds very wisely and frugally. We buy the basic necessities, we buy generic
in bulk, volunteers drive many miles, donating the cost of gas, to get the best
deals, we use day old produce, recently expired products, others left over
construction materials and recycled products.
We don’t need luxury, we
don’t need the best ... we just want to save lives and create a world of
happiness and contentedness.
When we can meet our basic
needs, we are happy ... so very happy.
Thank YOU for making that
happen.
Join us on
our thrift store
Location:
3503 Lafayette Blvd, Fredericksburg VA 22408
Phone:
540-891-5300
Hours:
10 am - 6 pm Monday - Saturday
noon - 5 pm - Sunday
