Rikki's Refuge: Sep 9, 2014

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Good Morning Good News !!!! September 9, 2014

Oh what a glorious day we had yesterday !!!

Not cuz da weather hooman made it a really cool day ....

But cuz Jill Deming came to visit us !!!!

She came specially to see BeeBee our nice old lady donkey. BeeBee and her husband Bub are both very very old. They are way the oldest aminals at Rikki’s ... cept for maybe some of the really ancient hoomans, like mom.

BeeBee and Bub came to Rikki’s Refuge last year when their hooman mom went to Rainbow Bridge. BeeBee’s legs is where most of her problems are. They are very stiff and her feet turn in a bit.

This means she has a special farrier come to trip her hooves just so every month. This is like you getting orthopedic shoes for a special problem.

Sometime the doctor and the farrier work together with a x-ray machine to make sure they are doing the best they possibly can for her feet and legs and to be comfortable.

Well yesterday Jill Deming came to do Body Work on BeeBee. Cuz her feet are funny, and her legs are stiff, it makes her shoulders stiff and even her spine was pretty stiff and tight. Jill worked all over BeeBee, while Bub stood guard over his wife.

Bub and BeeBee are so very bonded. Anybody who think animals don’t love and protect each other ought to watch these two!!

From the tips of the hoof, up the leg, to the shoulder, up the neck, down the spine, to the hips and down the back legs, one side then the other, Jill moved slowly. BeeBee closed her eyes and said ahhhhhhh .......... What a fabulous feeling. Just like you getting a good deep massage with extra attention and work to the special points.

Norman came out to help and demonstrate his skills in acupuncture.

When Jill was done, Bub wanted his turn. Yeahhhh, he said .... now that is good !!!!!

These two are so closely bonded, rarely are they out of each others reach. They touch, groom and rest on each other all the time. They are true unwavering love in action ....

Joseph Conrad, a very elderly sheep (he’s almost 15 and he’s been at Rikki’s Refuge since he was just a few months old) who’s had bad degenerative arthritis in his front right knee since he was very young, watched and wondered if Jill could make his knee feel better. But when she was ready to give him a turn, he got scared and run. Next time Jill comes, we’ll make sure he’s in a small area so no chasing and maybe hurting that leg is involved.

Next Jill came into the office and worked on my brofur Timmy’s legs. You know his story, right? He fell out of a car window somehow when he was just a itty bitty baby. His back legs are a bit twisted and he can’t use them well. But wow, you should see him climb !!!!

Hope, is my sisfur who’s part way blind, she really loved Jill and climbed all over her and really appreciated Jill’s hands. Violet too, she’s almost 21 and she’s been blind all her life.

Then I stayed in the office while Jill went to Doggy Downs and gave Flash, the oldest beagle on the planet, a good once over. Flash came to Rikki’s Refuge in 1999 and the shelter he came from then said he was 15 years old. Three times over the years, Flash got dopted and went home with nice people. Flash absolutely hates being in a house. He scratched thru doors, chewed up everything he could, peed all over the house and begged ... LET ME OUT .... he howled and carried on ...... The third family tried for a whole year to make him happy inside and he still said no no no, take me out .....

And so Flash came back to Rikki’s Refuge each time. After the third, when we really knew it was the great outdoors he wanted, and not just that maybe it was the wrong family, Flash went off the adoption list !!! Some guys just like to live closer to nature and to their roots and don’t want none of that hooman domestication stuff ......

Me? Yeah ... I’ll take their beds, their always full food bowls, their bankies and nice warm air blowing on me in the winter .... I is very domesticated ...... I’ll even wear clothes if you promise me more nums ....

Old Man Beagle was the next to get a good rub down and feel so relaxed.

Bub, BeeBee, Joseph Conrad, Timmy, Hope, Violet, Flash, Old Man Beagle and me ..... we’re just a few that your kind donations help every day.

Without YOU none of us would be here to tell our story!!!

Thank you for helping us have a new day and seeing the sun shine once again and giving us the chance to live all our retirement days in peace and happiness together at Rikki’s Refuge !!

$6 will give us a bale of hay, $55 will give BeeBee her monthly meds, $20 will buy us a bag of grain, any amount will help us have yet one more day of life in the sun !!

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: www.RikkisRefuge.org/FeedMe

Thank you for helping us to help them!!!!

Thank you, Jill, for coming out to help us!!! We’re excited, she’s coming back on the 17th again. If you’d like to learn more about Jill and how she can maybe help somebody you share your home with .... check her out right here: http://www.jdanimals.com/

Love YOU, Opie

SUPER URGENT VERY IMPORTANT

EXCITING NEWS! We are thrilled to have made it as a Top Ten Finalist in the Tractor Supply Company’s RESCUE MY RESCUE PHOTO CONTEST! Out of more than 1,800 nominations, Rikki’s Refuge was chosen as a top contender. And the grand prize? $10,000!!

WE NEED YOUR HELP! The contest winners are chosen by VOTES. It is free and easy and you can vote every 24 hours. The contest runs through Sunday, September 14 at midnight! The final prize winners will then be announced on Wednesday, September 17, the first day of the Tractor Supply Company Pet Appreciation Week (PAW).

AND you can come see us at The Orange, Virginia, Tractor Supply on Saturday September 20th from 10 am - 2 pm !! Please VOTE for us so Tractor Supply will be featuring US as their WINNER !!!!! Thank you !! Click here to VOTE https://www.facebook.com/TractorSupplyCo?v=app_340493986057345&rest=1

Here is the entry that brought us into the top ten:

Rikki’s Refuge in Orange, Virginia is awesome — they help differently-abled animals nobody else wants. Domestic animals, like cats and dogs and rabbits and guinea pigs. Farm animals like pigs and goats and sheep and horses and chickens and ducks. Opie here in the picture with me, was born without hind feet. Though he gets along just fine in life and loves playing and hugging, he would have been put to sleep in most shelters just for being different. Rikki’s has blind animals, deaf animals, elderly animals, handicapped animals, animals with chronic health issues like diabetes, heart problems, kidney insufficiency. Most of the 1300 residents of 22 species at Rikki’s Refuge will never get adopted, but they will live their natural lives in peace and happiness, loved and cared for.

Click on me or mom to VOTE !!

Please get your Shelter Challenge VOTE in EVERYDAY!!

this contest runs thru 9/21 and allows daily, sometimes twice daily, votes !!! The Shelter Challenge is a wonderful opportunity to help the animals with only a few clicks !!!! Totally FREE and EASY and QUICK .... turn your clicks into meds to prevent ticks !!!!

Please vote today and every day ... Just go to this link http://www.shelterchallenge.com/web/charityusa/nomineehome?userId=53331&nomineeId=17448

and enter Rikkis Refuge (no ‘ ... see ??) in VA in the USA and that’s it !! Thank you

Please vote today and every day ... Just go to this link http://www.shelterchallenge.com/web/charityusa/nomineehome?userId=53331&nomineeId=17448

or click your favorite goose picture and enter Rikkis Refuge (no ‘ ... see ??) in VA in the USA and that’s it !! Thank you

RIKKI’S IS FOR KIDZ!!!!

Print us out and color us pretty !!!! Have mom or dad scan and send in to Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org or mail to Rikki’s Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960 AND see YOUR art work displayed HERE !!!!

Here’s more coloring pages: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rikkis_refuge/sets/72157645517454253/

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

http://rikkisrefuge.org/FeedMe

Without YOU

none of us would have been alive

to enjoy this beautiful summer !!

THANK YOU !!!!!!

Your donations have saved the lives of every animal featured here today !!!! AND your donations are giving them happiness today !!! Please make a donation in honor of the animals you have loved to give everyone here a happy tomorrow !!! www.RikkisRefuge.org/FeedMe

Love,

Opie