Yogie and Friends Exotic Cat Sanctuary

This is a very small no frills sanctuary, The enclosures look a little run down but the cats appear to be very well cared for. The place runs on whatever grants they can obtain, private donations, fund raisers and admission fees. The staff is made up of All volunteers and you can tell they love the animals but have limited funds. They are only open for visitors one day a week on Saturdays from 12−5pm to limit the amount of stress on the animals. The admission is minimal at $ 5 per person for adults and $ 4 for children aged 4−12yrs, 3yrs and under are free. The day we went was a scorcher at over 100 degrees. On our first walk around most of the cats were sleeping or lying under the shade. We stuck around for a little bit and got to see putty tat and Gomez play fighting and jumping in and out of their pool. Moses was all the way in the back of the sanctuary and popped his head up our way a few times. Boudreaux also got up and moved around as did Delilah and Samson. Samson was also in and out of his pool too. Morticia was pacing in her cage the whole time we were there. We think they were all ready to eat as we heard it was a feeding day. Unfortunately we didn’t get to witness that as we had to go and no one was able to give a time as to when the feeding would take place. That would be something we wold go back to witness. They have lawn chairs, swings and umbrellas for you to sit and watch the cats, and on a cooler day I would stay for hours to observe. We went back into the office to cool off for a little bit before going back out to see them again. The stories are so sad how people think these exotic cats would make great pets until they become about 300 lbs. Others were abused or neglected, these truly are rescue cats who now have a safe permanent home and regular vet care.
The office is basically a small gift shop with T-​shirts, mugs, magnets etc. They also sell bottled drinks and the proceeds go back to the cats. Everyone was friendly, but I would suggest the staff (volunteers) be more professional, when taking a group on the tour and talking about each cat. The individual we had providing us a tour talked way to fast and at times mumbled. She also chose to talk while walking ahead of us so her back was to us and we couldn’t hear. She was very sarcastic when explaining each cats situation and where they came from, here tone was not towards the cats but the individuals who they had to rescue these cats from. In my opinion more focus on the cats and less on the nimrods (as she liked to call them) that kept these cats as pets. I would also suggest some form of typed up sign on each enclosure which gives the back story and information. The enclosures did have name plates for each cat and a poster in the gift shop provided a picture of all the cats that are currently residing there. Currently they have 15 cats. One cat passed away last year (Robin) but he is still pictured on the poster in the gift shop in case you want to see him.
This is a small place and won’t take much of your day unless you just want to hang out there all day with your new friends but it’s definitely a fun and interesting place to check out at least once when you’re in the area. It is located about 25 minutes from our hotel (Horseshoe) and definitely worth the drive to see these beautiful cats.
I will go back to observe and hopefully see a feeding.

We will be checking this place out sometime this summer. They are only open to the public for a short window, on Saturdays from 12pm to 5pm. I’ve been to the outside of this place, just on a solitary drive some years ago and I didn’t know what to think. I will update upon my actual visit to this interior of this compound. The stated mission of this operation seems honorable.