ARRR Rescue and Retirement Ranch Inc., 501-c3 Non Profit

01/23/2025

Sunset photos taken by ARRR's Captain a week or so ago.

01/22/2025

Crew Member Michelle shared this sunset photo of Petunia.

01/19/2025

Mission Maple:

Maple is a potbelly pig who was well loved by her owner. However, due to difficult life circumstances, the owner sadly had to surrender Maple to a rescue facility in a neighboring city, where she lived happily with another piggy friend. Until...

Maple's friend crossed the rainbow bridge, leaving Maple as a solitary pig. That's when ARRR was contacted by the other rescue facility. We have taken in other animals from that rescue before, and they are a top-notch organization, so we were happy to help out.

Maple made a four hour journey to ARRR. We kept her comfortable while arrangements were made for Maple's adoption. When everyone's schedules and the weather cooperated enough, Maple was loaded up and embarked on the final leg of her one hour journey to her forever home!

The adoptive family has shared these photos. Maple has made friends with a chicken and is becoming well aqaintted with her new piggy friend, Penny.

Mission Maple: accomplished. We wish Maple, Penny, the chickens, and the adoptive family all the best! We look forward to occasional updates. 🙂

01/18/2025

Happy Caturday from ARRR!
Our resident cats got a new toy, and it's a hit! Crew Member James shred this video.
Reminder: we are still accepting applications for a part-time cat attendant. AND we have many cats and kittens that desperately need homes. If you have room in your home and in your heart, please adopt! And please spread the word, thanks.

01/17/2025

Carrots are delicious. 🥕🐴

01/17/2025

Mark and Cyndi during morning chores...

01/14/2025

This little one was on our road today. Encounters between dogs and porcupines usually don't end well for at least one. Here's the thing: it's a shame when people hate a creature simply for it being what it is.

Porcupines are unaggressive. They aren't exactly fast or agile on the ground. When a dog with big teeth comes at ya, ya gotta defend yourself with whatever you have. Nature gave the porcupine quills, so we can't blame it for using what it was given. The porcupine vales it's own life as much as we value our own.

Dogs are smart, and if they have smart owners, they are taught commands such as "leave it," which can minimize damage from porcupine encounters. And thank heaven for veterinarians who will help a dog heal! An injured porcupine won't be so fortunate; there will be no one to help it.

Mind your dogs. Let the porcupines be. And if you're not busy hating them, perhaps you can enjoy them... from a distance.

All porcupines on ARRR land are respected.

01/11/2025

Happy Caturday from ARRR! The Archangle Kittens are ready for adoption! 😃 All eight of them!

These guys are about fifteen weeks old. Their FIV/FeLV test came back clear, they've had their first kitten vaccinations, they are litterbox trained and ready for homes! Girl photos are on peach, boy photos are on blue.

If you are interested, please PRIVATE MESSAGE ARRR for more information.

01/11/2025

ARRR Rescue and Retirement Ranch is looking for weekday, weekend, and fill-in help. Starting wage is $12. Hours are flexible, typically mid to late afternoons, sometimes into the early evenings. The job consists mostly of caring for cats and cleaning.

ARRR is located 10 minutes east of Williston, therefore applicants must have a driver's license and reliable transportation. PLEASE PRIVATE MESSAGE ARRR IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO APPLY. (Messages sent to personal profile pages will get lost, so please message the ARRR business page.)

FYI: all applicants who end up being no-shows for interviews, and who do not contact us ahead of time, are now being reported to JSND.

01/10/2025

Sampson and Delilah
Their names were changed when they first arrived at the ARRR, as we wanted to protect them from being found. They were seized from their former owner due to extreme neglect. They are safe now.

Cyndi was the first of our crew to be able to touch Delilah, and if you scroll back far enough, you'll see a video of Cyndi and Delilah doing ground work in the round pen. Recently, Delilah even nudged The Captain's hand.

01/05/2025

Look what our wonderful friend, Kat, is doing for the ARRR! 😮 What a thoughtful thing to do! 💕
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Tnmfiv2VF/

01/04/2025

Happy Caturday from ARRR! Today we have a very stinky topic.

Imagine, if you will, an odor that completely offends your senses. Is it rotten cabbage? Cat urine that was hiding in a corner for a couple of weeks? Perhaps an unfortunate skunk that was hit by a car? Common, the worst odor you can imagine.... Got it?

Now imagine that a restroom reeks of it. Are you going to look for a different restroom? What if there isn't one available? Or, let's say you are in the hospital and the bed sheets are drenched in the foul odor, and you are powerless to get away. How are you possibly going to rest and recover in comfort?

By now, you are probably wondering what this has to do with Caturday. Here it comes: ARRR frequently gets sick kittens surrendered to us, and when the kittens arrive, they are all tucked in, in fluffy blankets that reek of fragrance from detergents and fabric softeners. These fragrances are pleasing to the people who are doing their best to help the kittens. However, the fragrances are strongly offensive to sensitive kitten noses, just as if your hospital sheets stunk like diarrhea.

ARRR also receives a lot of questions from people whose cat won't use the litterbox, or who surrender their cat due to peeing on the carpet. If a medical problem is ruled out, then the problem is behavioral. One of the several things, along with declawing, that can lead to behavioral problems, is scented litter. Scented litter stinks for cats! Who can blame them if they seek a different "restroom"?

Cats don't like artificial fragrances. These chemical soups aren't regulated, thus they aren't safe for cats, or people either for that matter. Essential oils aren't a good alternative because essential oils are generally toxic to cats.

I recently visited another animal shelter and was surprised to smell a fragrance in their cat room. I don't know what it was, so it maybe it was safe, but I suspect it wasn't. Animal shelters and rescuers should know better. And so should pet owners. Lysol and Pine-Sol cause renal damage. Fabreeze, by the way, is a neurotoxin.

Does one or two exposures harm you? Only a little; nothing that's noticeable. However, it's the accumulation of many exposures to all the things in our everyday environment that will get you. Our dogs, cats, birds, and other pets are way more sensitive than we are, so it will get to them sooner, kinda like the canary in the coal mine.

Please people! Please take care of yourselves and the animals you are responsible for! Limit or avoid exposure to unnecessary fragrances.

Spread the knowledge.

01/04/2025

(UPDATE: the mass was inoperable. Frankie was euthanized at 10:53 on January 6th, 2025)

Frankie and her siblings were the very first residents to find sanctuary at ARRR. They were rescued from a farm, and some kittens died in the hands of rescuers as they were being loaded for transport. But Frankie and several others survived, then thrived! That was back in 2013.

Frankie is a good kitty. She is petite but doesn't take any guff from cats twice her suze! She's never been any trouble at all.

In the last couple of months, she just hasn't been her carefree little self. And she has been losing weight rapidly. The good people at Western Vet Clinic ran a bunch of tests today. Bloodwork looks good. Thyroid is ok. However, an X-ray revealed a mass in her abdomen. Frankie is scheduled for exploratory surgery and possible mass removal on Monday morning. We are hoping that this won't be our last weekend with Franks.

01/02/2025

Here is a slow-motion video of Edgar jumping up onto the counter in ARRR's cat shop. The way cats move is pretty amazing! Edgar was one of the thirty warehouse cats that were living under the threat of being poisoned. ARRR rescued and placed almost all of them to good barn and shop homes, although a few of those cats weren't suited for shops or barns. One of those few is Edgar. He is vision Impaired. He would be a very good indoor cat for the right person.

Thank you, Crew Member Cassandra, for the video.

01/02/2025

Happy New Year from ARRR. May 2025 bring peace.

Mark took this photo of Sunday's sunrise over the ARRR. The horse is Moose, who retired from Medora.

12/30/2024