Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 340

Cats: Space Aliens or Cute Geniuses? Poll!

I know what you are wondering — are cats space aliens? Or are we just geniuses who also happen to be cute? Let’s take a deeper look….

Proof cats are space aliens

Our eyes glow in the dark
In spite of being cute, some people are scared of us
We look into nothingness, watching things no one else can see
We are perfectly comfortable in advanced spacecraft that humans have not yet invented (and since humans haven’t invented them yet, who are you to say differently?)
We enjoy boxes because we know that we could make them fly if necessary
We can communicate without the need for a verbal language
We can manipulate humans into doing our will

Proof that cats are cute geniuses

Humans keep inventing new things in an effort to make us happy/ know us better (implying that they need to work hard to understand us)
Meanwhile, we can invent toys out of practically anything
We can manipulate humans into doing our will — and make them happy to do it!
We do whatever we want and humans always forgive us
We have created a language of meows to communicate with humans, even though we don’t need it to communicate with each other
The people who dislike us generally do because they know they cannot outsmart us, and because we are just too cute for them

As you can see, there is some overlap here. So what do you think? Answer my poll below and you can go into more detail in the comments.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Cats: Space Aliens or Cute Geniuses? Poll! appeared first on SparkleCat.

My New Favorite Toy

Remember how I said I could make another faces post of me and my new favorite toy with photos left over from my trip with my human last week? I wasn’t kidding!

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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post My New Favorite Toy appeared first on SparkleCat.

Happy Early Fourth of July!

You may look at this set and think I am a little bit late to celebrate the Fourth of July, but you would be wrong because this was for a photo shoot for my 2017 calendar! There’s a problem, though — my human brought home what she thought was festive neckwear for me. Well, it was festive neckwear for a Great Dane! As you can see, it is not even close to fitting.

I don’t know if there is a way to fix this to make it look right.

No, I do not think this is a winning look.

I guess you can’t fault me for trying. You can fault my human for bringing it home without checking the size.

Seriously, I could just walk right through this thing.

My human thought she could get away with doubling over this collar thing but I’m not so sure! What do you think? Is it too much? Should I ditch it? Or does it look all right to you?
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Happy Early Fourth of July! appeared first on SparkleCat.

Heat Therapy!

I had a therapy visit scheduled at the hospital yesterday morning, and boy was it hot! My human put a cold gel pack in my carrier, under my towel, to help me keep cool on the drive there.

I was glad to get inside. We were the first ones there, and waited in the lobby for the other team and the coach. The other team included a little dog named Bently. Apparently, he gets really excited when he sees cats and likes to chase the ones in his neighborhood, but when he’s working, he’s very good! If there is a concern that a dog and I might not be good together, we will work on different floors of the hospital, but we were able to work in the same wings without any problems.

I had some really amazing visits on this trip. In fact, I think it may have been my best yet! I hadn’t been in a couple of weeks, so I was a little nervous at first, but then I remembered that all I needed to do was sit with the humans and just be a kitty and it made them happy.

One thing people don’t realize about therapy pets is that we are not just there for the patients, but also the staff and the patients’ families. One patient didn’t want to see me — either he was allergic or didn’t like cats — but the lady visiting him (she may have been his daughter) wanted to hang out with me. So she petted me lots and talked about cats with my human for a while. Then there was another family visiting a patient — there were four generations in the room, from the great-grandmother, who was the patient, to the little great-grandson. I did tricks for them and let the great-grandmother hold me. It was really gratifying.

After all my visits, I was tired. Plus the car was really hot. My human turned on the air conditioner the moment we got in and let it run for a few minutes before putting me back in the carrier. Fortunately, the gel pack still had some cold left in it. Just to be on the safe side, my human put my carrier in the front seat (which she usually doesn’t — there’s an air bag danger), so I could get more of the air conditioner blowing on me.

I’m ready to go again! Next time I’ll be going to different hospital, one that is new to me.
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Heat Therapy! appeared first on SparkleCat.

Nip Party Selfies

What’s a kitty to do when it’s too hot to go out? Have a nip party, of course! Our fresh catnip from last week is still drying, but my human had some good stuff onhand. Literally on her hand at the moment.

I’m not sure if Binga was invited, but she’s here anyway.

Oh well, the more nip I have, the less Binga’s being around will matter, right?

Uh-oh, I just remembered — I still need to do a selfie!

Ugh! I hate trying to set up when I’m nipped out like this. It’s even worse than last week.

I can’t even see straight! Which I guess is kind of obvious.

At least the focus is better, even if it is horribly off-center.

You can totally tell I’m nipped out here. Oh well, this will have to do. Binga’s commandeering all the nip.

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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Nip Party Selfies appeared first on SparkleCat.

Caturday Outtakes and Extras

My human is trying to finish editing the latest volume of Rescued and create a galley for reviewers and blurb writers this weekend, so I figured I’d make it easy on her and feature some recent outtakes and extras from my photo library! Plus I know you enjoy them.

When my human is setting up a photo session for me, she uses a stand-in for lighting and camera adjustments. Sometimes I can’t resist supervising.

Remember when I was testing the pearls in this necklace to see if they were real? I tasted them too! Actually, the necklace tasted kind of icky and it took forever for my tongue to feel right again.

Ever since my human bought me this dress, she has been trying to get a decent photo of me in it. So far she has had no luck. I’m glad the interviewer from yesterday did not see this photo — I would definitely have not gotten a call back!

We had a good box a while back, and my human thought it might be a good prop for a photo shoot. So she took some photos (Boodie is always up for a big box!), but then she never could figure out what to do with them.

As you can see, Boodie thought the whole thing was a big joke.

I hope you liked my outtakes and extras today!
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Caturday Outtakes and Extras appeared first on SparkleCat.

Job Interview

Now, Mr. Kitty….

It’s Ms. Kitty. I’m a girl.

Oh, excuse me. With that tie, I just assumed you were a male Somali cat.

I wanted to look professional. Plus it shows I am comfortable with neckwear.

That’s right, you are applying to be a fashion model. Can you tell me a little about your background?

I am a regional award-winning show cat in both CFA and TICA, two years in a row. I am also a certified therapy cat. I have posed for two monthly calendars, and I do several photo sessions a week, both posed and casual, for my blog, sparklecat.com.

Very good. Can you give me a cute look?

Like this?

Yes, but… can you give me more of a head tilt?

How about this?

Yes, that’s good.

Now, can you give me a wistful look?

Here’s one!

Hmmm… could you put your chin down, just a bit?

Like this?

Much better.

Do I get the treat, I mean, job? Do I?

Let me get back to you.
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Job Interview appeared first on SparkleCat.

Reporting From an Undisclosed Location

I am reporting from an undisclosed location today! I haven’t been out of town since BlogPaws and my human wanted to get me out of the house for a short trip. She had enough hotel points for a free night’s stay at the hotel chain we often use for cat shows, so she booked a room far enough away from home to feel like we actually went somewhere, but not too far. Her birthday is today, and she didn’t want to spend half of it driving home, because driving is not one of her favorite activities.

It was a really nice-sized room!

As usual, though, our room looked out to a parking lot. Plus the freeway.

I spent some time watching my human work. Yes, I am wearing a dress because we went out!

It was just to the local PetSmart, though. My human didn’t bring any of my toys when we left, so she thought she would buy me something.

I checked out the cat trees, just for fun! And we met a family and talked to them about their new kitten, and harness training him.

Can you believe they already are selling Christmas stockings? I thought that was crazy.

When we got back my human and I relaxed for a while, and then we both had dinner.

Finally my human pulled out my new toy! Isn’t it cool?

I could make a whole nother faces post with this thing!

Later on, I got to go for a walk in the hallways.

I almost feel like it’s my birthday instead of my human’s!
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Reporting From an Undisclosed Location appeared first on SparkleCat.

The Faces of (Toy) Death

Can you tell I’m getting ready to play? Let’s see how many crazy faces I can make with this toy!

I’ve got the thing in my sights!

You may have noticed from some of my dresses and the backdrop from the other day, my human has kind of a thing for skulls.

Okay, I guess technically, this photo doesn’t have any faces in it. But still.

Now we’re back to the faces!

Do you think I killed yet?

If only my human would let go of it, I could carry it off.

What do you mean this isn’t appropriate for a Day of the Dead photo? I think I’ve done a great job of making sure it’s dead.
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post The Faces of (Toy) Death appeared first on SparkleCat.

Who Is This Cat Necklace for Anyway?

It always happens when my human goes to the pet store without me — she comes home with something for me to wear. This time it was a cat necklace.

And it really was a cat necklace! Not something meant for dogs, like she sometimes brings home. It’s actually too big for me, if you look at the neck size (9″–11″), but my human thought it would hang nicely with its longer length.

Of course I had to see if the pearls were real. They weren’t.

I did think it was pretty so I agreed to model it.

I even struck some cool poses! The company that makes this cat necklace should hire me to pose for them.

And I even sat still so my human could do a close-up.

I really enjoyed wearing this necklace! Even when it was off-center and my human had to readjust it.

But then I found out that she tried wearing it! And it fit, which shows just how skinny her neck is. Do any of you kitties have a human who can fit into your neckwear?
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

The post Who Is This Cat Necklace for Anyway? appeared first on SparkleCat.