Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 348

In With Some Outtakes

My human had one of those days where nothing really bad happened, but everything was negative and annoying. So I thought I would cheer her up with some outtakes today… although I don’t know how much they are going to actually cheer her up, considering that most of them are her fault! Like the photo above. Let’s face it — nobody looks good in this hat.

Here is one where she got me with my tongue out.

Remember that rat hunting caper? I was so happy when I was done with my daredevil capers that I rolled around on the counter! My human tried to capture me between rolls. She failed on this one.

I was doing some hand shakes and my human took this photo at just the wrong time.

I also blame the photographer for capturing me with my eyes shut.

And finally, here is an outtake from my tail modeling tips. I hope you enjoyed my outtakes today!
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

Ten Tips to Trounce Kitty Troublemaking

I know where my human keeps all my favorite toys — the ones that she claims require “human supervision.” Of course, I know better, so sometimes if she’s not at her desk (where these toys are stored), I will just go and help myself. Does this make me a bad kitty? No! It makes me a bored kitty. My human knows this, but a lot of others apparently don’t, because they think cats who make their own fun are misbehaving. It’s really the humans who are out of line, because they are neglecting us cats.

Anyone who thinks cats prefer to be left alone is wrong. Unless a cat is feral, she wants human attention and enjoys interacting with people. She also needs to be mentally engaged. A cat that causes trouble is one who needs some excitement in her life. I know how humans hate to think too hard, so I’ve put together 10 tips for you to use with your cat, preferably before she has to figure out how to make her own fun.

Schedule playtime daily. Cats, especially active younger ones like me, need regular playtime — the kind of play that leaves us panting blissfully from exhaustion. And we should have playtime every day. It’s as important for us cats as going for a walk is for a dog (you didn’t think you were just taking the dog out to go to the bathroom, did you?). And we cats want you to play with us, so use interactive toys. You will learn which ones are your cat’s favorites in very little time.
Make sure we have good views. We cats all enjoy window watching, so make sure we have a perch from which to check out what is going on outside. The only time you need caution here is when you have feline trespassers that your cat doesn’t like. In that, case, you really should figure out a way to keep them away from your windows so your cat can enjoy Bird or Squirrel or even People TV when they want.
If you have a good window view but no critters, invite the birds to come by with a bird feeder or two. You can’t have Bird TV without the actors, and they expect to get paid!
Two words: training sessions. I have learned several tricks, and I may be a little better at learning them than most, but nearly all cats can learn at least one or two. Even Boodie knows how to sit up (the trick my human teaches nearly every cat that passes through her door). Having a training session every day is a fun way to build a human-cat bond, and if a cat is getting into everything, it’s a way to help contain some of his excess energy. Plus, treats! The treat rewards are my favorite part of the training, and they are always healthy treats, so my human feels good about giving them to me.
Create routines. We cats are creatures of habit (and we may be a little bit OCD), so if you build routines just for us, we really appreciate it. Like having a special chair that your cat sits on while you are preparing her dinner, or a counter space set aside while you are in the bathroom getting ready for the day. Once your cat figures out that this is the way things are supposed to go, she will look forward to the routine you’ve created together.
Leash train your cat. It takes some work, but if you have a really active cat, the best thing you can do is get him used to being in a harness and leash so he can explore the outdoors. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s the safest way for a cat to be outside. If I am getting into too much stuff (according to my human), she will slip my harness on me and take me outside for a while. Usually, it tires me out, even though I don’t really do that much while I’m outside.
Set up kitty play areas. This is a great way to fight feline boredom. Figure out the areas in the house your cat enjoys spending time in, and install a cat tree, a condo or some shelving or wall platforms. We cats really like vertical space, so create some for us. You can also toss around a couple of paper bags (with the handles cut off), or a box or two for your cat to play with.
Make or buy puzzle toys. There are treat puzzles of course, but you can also cut holes in a small box and add toys for your cat to try to grab with her paws. This will help stimulate your cat mentally. While these aren’t a replacement for human-cat games, they are good for when you are away from the house.
Make sure you rotate toys too! The same old toys can get dull after a while. Always keep a few packed away (preferably in container with catnip), and trade them out now and again with the ones that have been sitting around and not getting much attention.
Just spend time with your cat. Your cat may not be glued to your side every minute of the day, but he likes being around you and feeling like the family member he is. Include your cat when you are kicking back at home. Take time out a few times a day just to pet him in his favorite ways. It’s good for both of you.

Did you like my tips? Do you have more to add?
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

Turret Selfie

Did I ever do selfies in the turret before? Well, in any case, that’s what you get today.

The turret connects the two sections of the house — the living room and the office I share with my human is on one side, and the rest of the house is on the other. I decided to go over to the other side of the wooden post that is in the center of the turret for these selfies since the light is better there. Now I just need to get the setup right.

This is kind of a bad angle. Let me see if I can adjust it.

This one’s kind of dark. Let me try again.

Here we go! That’s it for today.

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

Caturday Shopping Trip

We were out of raw cat food, so my human and I went to our local pet shop, Rock Dog and Cat, to pick some up.

It was rainy that day, so you don’t get to see how dirty my human’s car is.

Of course I had to look at the cat toys!

Can you tell how excited I was to see these boxes of cat toys? Seriously, it was like a dream come true!

Can you blame me for sampling the merchandise?

No, my human didn’t get me any toys. She said I already had enough — and besides, she claimed she actually got me one of those exact toys a few months ago, and I promptly lost it. So this wasn’t one of my best shopping trips ever.
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

Pro Kitty Modeling Tips: the Tail Edition

I know not a lot of you kitties pose for important photo sessions, but if you ever do, you need to know what to do with your tail! You can’t just leave it hanging around awkwardly, and if it is fluffy, it shouldn’t just sit there. My human is always fluffing up my tail, and she wants me to show it off. Plus I get treats when I do.

I have to say that half the reason this photo turned out badly is not my fault — it’s my human’s! Look at how badly my tail is groomed. It should be a dramatic plume of fluff, not with chunks of fur separated like here. Of course, my strange pose didn’t help either. My feet are all in the wrong places!

And while you should wave your tail around proudly, it is not a good idea to whip it around too fast or it will be a blur! Even if the photographer is annoying you, your tail should keep it cool.

You have to be careful about your limbs too, especially if the photographer human is not a pro and doesn’t have strobe lights. This photo would have come out with a strobe because my little paw wave would have been in focus. But since it was just a cheap lighting set-up, I would have had to be a little more still to keep my paw and tail from being blurry.

You also have to be really patient because humans take a long time with their photography and take way too many photos. If you show how you are really feeling, the photos come out looking like this.

Also try to hide your frustration. It’s not pretty.

Did you like my photo tips today?
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

We’ve Been Bad!

This isn’t the bad part, but I did want to say thank you to everyone at DashKitten for these prizes from their blogoversary giveaway — the Steampunk Cat print from Sandra Wong, the Brewskie Butt coloring book from BzTat, and the awesome catnip toys from Colorado Catnip! It took a while for them all to arrive because they came from different places.

They were all very much worth waiting for!

Right about the same time the final prize from DashKitten showed up, so did the Bavarian Cat Toy prizes I won in Cathy Keisha’s giveaway!

As you can tell, there was a lot of enthusiasm about this package.

Even in their wrappings, these toys were super fragrant!

So you can imagine what it was like when they were all unwrapped! These pillows and toys are filled with various combinations of valerian root, spelt, lavender, catnip and anise… the common denominator being the valerian root and spelt. So it was pretty intense in my living room!

In case you are wondering where Binga was, she was rolling all over the empty wrapping!

But of course, the wrapping wasn’t good enough for her… she wanted all the toys!

I told her politely that she couldn’t have them all.

Apparently she didn’t want to take no for an answer.

In the heat of the moment, we temporarily forgot about the toys altogether.

But not for long!

My human wrapped up most of the toys but left a couple for us to enjoy, i.e., fight over… and later, when her boyfriend came home, he wanted to know what that “awful smell” was. Just shows he has no taste.

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

Awesome Way to Give Your Human a Heart Attack!

I was rat hunting the other day when I found out my human does not trust my athletic abilities!

I knew they were running around in the ceiling, so I went to check out the action.

I confess, it was a little awkward up there.

I don’t know why my human was freaked out. Yeah, it is kind of far down, but it’s not that far.

After much complaining on my human’s part, I decided that maybe it was time to get down.

So I did! It was no problem at all.

That was fun! I want to do it again.

What do you mean, “NO!”
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

My Therapy Cat Evaluation

I bet you are all wondering how my therapy cat evaluation went!

I passed! This isn’t my real harness, though — when I go for my first visit, I’ll get my real harness with the name of the organization on it. I will be honest, I was a little nervous, but it turned out that I didn’t have to do anything I wasn’t used to. I was on my leash, and several people I didn’t know handled me and cuddled me. Then somebody brought out a big dog and walked him around the room. I barely noticed the dog — I certainly saw enough dogs at the cat show at the Phoenix Pet Expo! The only weird part was that when my human put me back in my carrier, a friend of hers took me home. She had to stay behind to learn some other stuff.

The organization is called Love On 4 Paws, and my human chose them because they had several places that they serviced that were near our part of town. The day of the orientation, they gave my human this camera and film because when we do visits, she’ll be taking photos of me with the patients and giving them the pictures. Isn’t that cool?

I can’t wait to get started! But my human has to do a couple of things first. She needs to get clearance with the hospital we will be visiting, and she’ll need a TB test. Once that is taken care of, I can go visiting!
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See Summer’s 2016 calendars and other awesome merch at her Zazzle Shop!

Cinco de Mayo Giveaway

Remember my sombrero photo shoot a little while back? These Mexican props weren’t the only thing my human bought when she was shopping on Olvera Street!

She also got this cute little Mexican cat tile, and I am giving it away to celebrate Cinco de Mayo! Let’s take a closer look at it, so you can see it without the glare.

It’s cute, isn’t it? And I will be honest, it wasn’t actually “Hecho en Mexico” — the studio is located in Tucson, AZ.

My human will also be including a couple of other surprise items in this giveaway, but I can’t tell you what they are — mainly because this giveaway includes my international readers, so she doesn’t know what she is including yet! It will depend on which country the winner lives in, since some things can’t be sent to certain countries.

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter! Everyone is eligible, except where this sort of thing is prohibited. Deadline is midnight Pacific Time, May 9. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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

Bridge Selfies

My house has something that most houses don’t — a bridge! It is one of the reasons my human fell in love with this house. The bridge connects the second story of part of the house with the back patio. That way you don’t have to walk down the stairs, through the whole house, out the kitchen door and up some more stairs to get to the back, which is what would happen without the bridge.

That white wall you see at the top of the photo is where the kitchen is. The second story of the house runs from the kitchen all the way over to the master bathroom at the other end, where the front of the house is.

Anyhow, it’s time for selfies. I don’t really like this angle. Who wants to see a big wall behind me?

I like this better — you can see the office I share with my human in the background. It’s in a different part of the house than the bridge. Are you confused by all these different house parts? That’s the other reason my human fell in love with this house. When she went to the open house, people kept getting lost and turned around… except for her. She figured out her way around right away. Anyway, let me move back a little so you can see more of me.

Here you go! So that is my bridge selfie.

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