Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 20

Inside and Outside Portraits

Here are some portraits I posed for recently, from two different sessions. One was shot inside, and the other shot outside. You may recognize the settings from previous blog posts, but as always, my human came up with more good photos than she needed.

For the inside photos, my human wanted to have me somewhere that looked casual and lived in. So obviously, the studio was out of the question! She settled on the sofa, or rather I settled on the sofa and she snapped the pics. You won’t find any secret messages except for the first photo because they aren’t necessary.

My human really wasn’t happy with the outside photos and almost didn’t want to share them. She’s been waiting to bring me back outside when the sun was at just the right angle. Unfortunately, it’s been a little on the cloudy side the past week, so the weather hasn’t been cooperating. But even without the light being perfect, I think they are still nice.

I hope you liked them! Let me know what you thought.

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Dressed for Success? My Business Cat Looks on Video

Do you remember that I modeled some business cat looks a while back? My human always wanted to make a video of me modeling them…and finally she got around to it!

Of course I included my classic business look. It’s my corporate cat style.

Instead of pearls, I wore a Peter Pan collar for my secretary look in the video.

And yes, I included the vintage newspaper reporter look too. But enough of all that&nsbp;— just check out the video! I think it’s one of my funniest.

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On-The-Go Outtakes

You may notice that all my outtakes this week have one thing in common — I’m on my leash! Some of my best outtakes happen when I’m on the go.

My human was taking forever to arrange the Easter bunny dress “just so,” and you can tell I was growing impatient.

My human got lots of nice photos of me posing in front of this hill full of greenery. And then she got this photo too.

What was going on in this photo? I don’t remember, but it appears that the peach kitty was doing something I found annoying.

And have we reached the end of the outtakes already? Yes we have! I hope you enjoyed them. If you have a favorite, let me know in the comments.

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The Rest of the Peach Kitty’s Post-Modeling Visit

If you watched my Easter bunny dress video all the way to the end, you saw that the peach kitty stopped by for a visit afterwards. So I thought I’d share the rest of our visit.

A while back, my human finally gave the peach kitty the last of his Christmas catnip toys, and somehow she’s managed to keep him from running off with it. And he’s been playing with it on some of his visits.

So he played with it in the enclosed patio for a few moments…and then ran outside with it.

So yeah, that was pretty much how the visit ended! You can see a video below.

In case you’re wondering, he left it behind when he was done. So my human took it back into the enclosed patio and we still have it.

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Six Top Secret Ways Cats Say You Are Special to Them

Everyone knows the typical signs that a cat likes you or has welcomed you into their inner circle. Slow blinks, headbutts, exposing their bellies in your presence, etc. But when you are more than just one of the gang to your cat — someone very special to them — they have secret ways of letting you know. So let me break down the code for you and give you six examples.

“Accidentally” touching or brushing against you.
There are the leg rubs humans get at mealtimes, but this is something different. In fact, it may almost seem like an accident. But when a cat just barely touches you with the tip of their tail, or stretches out and gives you a little paw pat when they’re lying next to you, they know exactly what they’re doing. It’s like when a partner touches their loved one while walking by them. It’s a casual but intentional closeness.
 Napping in odd spots just because they smell like you.
Have you ever found your cat sleeping in an open purse? Or curled up on a discarded sweat shirt of yours? Or anything you’ve recently used or sweated on? Cats are very scent oriented, and when something smells like the person they are most bonded to, we are drawn almost irresistibly to it.
 They pause during playtime and look at you.
Playtime with cats involves engaging their hunting instinct. So normally a cat will be completely focused on their prey — the toy they are chasing, stalking and trying to catch. A cat that is very bonded to you will break game and look at you, as if to include you into their hunting world. It’s a really subtle cue, and humans who recognize it think it’s kind of cute.

I have an example that involved an actual hunt. One late night I found a rat in the bathroom and I was playing with it. Well, I thought I was playing — it kept chattering rather angrily at me. I had it cornered in the shower when my human finally found us. And of course I paused to walk up to my human because I wanted to include her in my fun! You can see a post about that little adventure here.
 

They have their own special language just for you.
Cats mostly meow at humans, and not so much at other cats. That’s because cats learn vocalization is how humans primarily communicate. So they vocalize back at you. But if you are really special to them, they will create specific meows or sounds just for you. It could be a little chirp, or a certain meow that they only do for you. We cats are capable of making over 100 different vocal sounds, so we can get pretty creative!
 They stalk you.
Are you hanging around the house, just minding your own business — and suddenly your cat just appears out of nowhere? And then you go into a completely different part of the house and bam! There’s your cat again, and you didn’t even notice them coming into the room. If it feels like your cat is behaving like some sort of lovesick stalker, you aren’t too far off the mark.

Cats like to be around their people, but usually we don’t need to be right next to them. Just being in the same room with a person shows that we enjoy your company. But when a cat wants to be everywhere you are without making a big deal out of their presence, it indicates a deeper bond.
 

You can hold them upside down.
Some cats like to be cradled like a baby (and some cats really hate it). But if a cat allows you to hold them upside down without cradling against your body, there’s a huge bond there because it requires a lot of trust.

Case in point: one of my favorite (and one of my human’s favorite) Instagram cats, @laylathaplaya. Her owner holds her upside down in just about every video — often while she’s wearing clothes — and she is totally in heaven! My human says she has never seen another cat so utterly bonded to their owner.

As you can tell, these signals are very subtle. We cats rarely make a big deal out of really important things. But once you know what to look for, if a cat’s really bonded to you, it’s unmistakable.

Have you gotten any of these signs? Or has your cat done something else that tells you how bonded they are? Let us know in the comments.

The post Six Top Secret Ways Cats Say You Are Special to Them appeared first on Summer’s Fabulous Cat Life.

Modeling My Two-Piece Easter Bunny Dress

Easter came early around here! I have a two-piece bunny dress to model today. My human found it at Ross Dress for Less, and I think you can see why she wanted it for me.

The skirt looked big on the rack, but it actually fit me perfectly.

The top part, however, was a little small, so my human needed to mess with it a little bit to cover up the skirt’s waistband.

We finally made it work! You can see my modeling session in action in the little video below. Make sure to watch til the end — there’s a little surprise.

Did you like it? Let me know in the comments.

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Modeling Session, Canceled!

My human took me down to a section of the backyard for some photos. At the right time of day and the right time of year, it makes a really nice backdrop.

But we were only down there for a few minutes when I got distracted.

Look who showed up! As I’m sure you probably guessed.

He made his way down, and he just sort of sauntered over.

And then he sauntered right on past!

If this was his idea of posing, I was not impressed.

That was pretty much the end of the modeling session. But we both got lots of treats!

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My Well-Behaved Shopping Day

I got to have a shopping day! And this time I went to one of my local pet stores instead of a big chain store.

The first thing I did was visit with the staff. They know me really well over there. A woman was buying some food for her dog, and she petted me too.

They always have some new items in the store, so I love looking around and checking out the merchandise.

The cat section had all sorts of new items!

They had loads of different cat food bowls! Some of them were really unique.

I thought this little scratcher toy with the fluffy feathers was really cool. My human didn’t get it because she thought I’d ignore it the moment we got home.

All too soon, it was time to check out.

I hope my human didn’t stock up on too much food because I can’t wait to go shopping again!

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Modeling My Fairy Wings Hoodie on Video

It took a few days, but my human finally put together the video footage of me modeling my hoodie with the fairy wings.

She really wanted to get it done earlier, but she’s been super busy. I think seeing me model it in action really shows you how cool the wings are.

I think you’ll see what I mean when you check out the video. Let me know what you think!

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Outtakes With Crazy Faces

You can tell by my dubious face that I’m not so sure about this week’s selection of outtakes! I will say that these are some of my craziest faces in a long time!

You’d think that after a therapy cat visit, my human would work extra hard to make me look good. But no!

Clearly I wasn’t ready to be photographed…but my human snapped a photo anyway.

I’m not even sure what was going through my head in this photo!

And to keep things from getting too unflattering, here’s a tiny tongue out photo of me! I hope my crazy faces made you laugh. If you have a favorite, let me know in the comments.

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