Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 23

My February Compilation – Fun Adventures, Modeling, and the Peach Kitty

My February video compilation is out! And it’s a fun one.

It includes an awesome cat show day in Glendale, and the preparation surrounding it.

I had a shopping day, and a lot of modeling sessions.

And of course a couple visits with the peach kitty, including one for Valentine’s Day.

You’ll find all of that below! As always, the video is divided into chapters, so you can skip around to the videos you missed, or want to see again. Enjoy!

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Caturday Outtakes

It’s time for outtakes! And I have a bunch of silly photos to share with you this week.

I look like I wasn’t awake yet! But don’t worry, I was ready to greet everyone at the cat show.

The end of the cat show is always a little sad, and you can see what I thought of it here.

I have no idea what he was doing here.

My front yard photo sessions often result in lots of airplane ears photos. I was better this time, and this was the only one.

And that’s the end of this week’s outtakes! If one photo made you smile more than the others, let me know in the comments.

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The Secret Life of Cat Whiskers: 9 Fascinating Facts You Never Knew

In addition to being cute, cat whiskers are amazing sensory organs that have no true parallel in humans. They’re aerodynamic and help us sense the world around us through air movement. And we use them in surprising ways! Here are just 10 of them, and I bet you didn’t know some of these fascinating facts.

Cats have whiskers on our faces, but we also have them on the back of our front legs.
The mystacial whiskers are the most prominent, and the ones you mostly likely picture right away. There are 24 of them — 12 on each side of our face. But we also have whiskers on our upper lip, chin, above our eyes, near our ears, and behind the lower part of our front legs.
 Our leg whiskers are hunting tools.
They’re called carpal whiskers, and we use them when we’re holding prey to sense how much it’s moving. The thing is, we don’t see very well up close, so those leg whiskers are a big help. They also help when climbing trees.
 Kittens are born with whiskers.
This would make sense, since kittens can’t see at birth. Their tiny whiskers are their best way of sensing the world around them.
 Whiskers help cats “see” in the dark.
Even during the darkest night or in a pitch black room, cats can navigate their way around. Our whiskers help us sense objects around us. That’s why we rarely run into or trip over things at night, while humans flail around helplessly.
 Whiskers are also like little speedometers.
They help us gauge both speed and distance while running, and we don’t even need those dials like cars have on their dashboards.
 “Whisker fatigue” really is a thing.
When my human first started seeing wider, flatter cat food bowls advertised as a way to avoid whisker fatigue, she thought it was mostly a marketing ploy. But it’s actually real! Because our whiskers are so sensitive, as you’ve already seen, it can really bother us when our whiskers keep rubbing on the edge of a bowl. And it’s uncomfortable to keep them pulled in the whole time we’re eating.
 Want to know a cat’s mood? Check their whiskers!
Part of a cat’s facial expressions include what our whiskers are doing. Whiskers forward and ears forward? We’re alert and attentive! Whiskers forward and ears back? Frightened and aggressive. Relaxed whiskers are the sign of a happy cat, but if they’re drooping too much it could be a sign of illness.
 Whiskers can be seen under UV light.
The key thing here is that whiskers are made of keratin, which fluoresces. If you want to test it yourself, you’ll need a very dark room and a strong UV lamp because it’s not a strong effect. But it’s there.
 Cats regularly shed whiskers and grow them back.
It doesn’t happen often, and it’s only one or two at a time (unless there’s a health issue). But if you find one of your cat’s whiskers, it’s no big deal that they lost it. They grow back in about two to three months.

I hope you found these facts fun and interesting! Did any of them surprise you? Let me know in the comments.

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My Pretty Outside Portraits

I’m working on a fun and fact-filled blog post but I needed a photo to go along with it. So my human took me outside for for a few portraits. It was a really pretty day, and of course we wound up with lots of leftover photos! So I’m sharing a few of them with you today. No secret messages, since they’re not needed.

I hope you liked them! Let me know your favorites. Extra points if you can guess the topic of the blog post.

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More of My Date With the Peach Kitty

I thought I’d share more of my date with the peach kitty.

We always gets lots of treats right at the beginning.

I have to make sure I get as many treats as he does. Even though my human swears it’s equal.

My human has accused me of stealing his treats. But of course she is exaggerating.

When we’re not asking for treats, he spends a lot of time rolling around on the ground.

You saw our photo session yesterday, and then we walked back to the patio together.

You can see a video of our visit below.

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NOT Posing With the Peach Kitty

The peach kitty showed up for a visit over the weekend, and it was such a pretty afternoon that my human led us over to the bridge for some photos.

I’m always up for photos! He just needed to get in place.

But apparently he had his own agenda.

It’s like he wasn’t even trying.

I tried giving him a talking to.

Clearly this photo session did not turn out the way it was supposed to.

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My Awesome Cat Show Day in Glendale

I had such a fun day at the cat show in Glendale! It may have been one of my best ever cat show appearances!

I was right at the front, the moment you walked in.

One thing we did a little differently with my set up was to hang my outfits on the partition behind me. Usually my human just has them stuffed in a little garment bag. But I think it’s much nicer to have them on display.

Since my clothes were in full sight, it was a lot easier for my human to put them on me instead of having to dig around for them.

So I was able to wear all the outfits I brought this time!

It was such a fun day. Lots and lots of people stopped by to see me. Many of them knew me from social media. One or two people showed up who followed me…but they didn’t know I was going to be there! And a couple of people my human knows personally were there, including a photographer I’ve worked with.

It was a full day! So I didn’t get much nap time, but I didn’t need it. I was energized almost all the time I was there.

I was kind of sad when it was over. You can see a short video of all the fun below.

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Funny Sunday Photos

I have lots of fun and funny photos for you this week!

The biggest problem with taking photos of me in the front yard is that it’s a little noisy out there! And that always makes my ears go wonky.

I think I was growing impatient with how slow my human was handing out the treats.

Sometimes I think I’m done with my photo session before it’s actually finished!

I just wanted my post-therapy cat visit treats with a minimal amount of fuss.

And that’s it for this week’s outtakes! Did you think any of them were funnier than the others? Let me know in the comments.

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My Pink Long-Sleeved Sweater on Video!

Remember my long-sleeved pink sweater from a few days ago? There’s actually a video! But my human just got around to putting it up on YouTube so I could share it here.

I mean, the photos were cool, but you get to see me chasing treats in the video.

You also get to see me hanging out with the peach kitty at the end.

So check out the video and let me know what you think! I had a lot of fun while we were shooting it.

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My Cat Show Wardrobe For Glendale

I have a cat show on Saturday in Glendale, California! I haven’t been in a few months because I was at Blogpaws Live in Boulder the last time. So I’m packing a few fun outfits to bring with me.

I decided to wear a few things that you don’t see very often. I’ve had this cute little skull dress since I was a kitten, but you hardly ever get to see it! I have so many dresses that some just get neglected.

In case you are wondering why I’m wearing my tiny sailor hat with this dress, it’s because there’s a rhinestone anchor on the back! I tried to show it off, but it was too difficult to do for a photo.

We’re still a month away from spring, but the weather here is sunny and pleasant right now. So I don’t think it’s too early for this tie dye dress and flower crown.

And of course, no cat show wardrobe is complete without a princess dress and tiara!

I don’t know for sure, but this may be my last cat show for a while. We are really concerned about the spread of the H5N1 bird flu, and I may limit my public appearances to stay safe. My human can always wear a mask, but I can’t, and this virus is fatal to up to 70% of cats who catch it. We are playing it day by day, so I’m not sure when my next show is going to be!

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