Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 352

Cats and Smoking Don’t Mix… Plus Tips for Smokers

I have something important to tell you today, about something I learned on one of my recent trips to PetCo.

They handed this card to my human when we were checking out, inviting us to spread the word about the dangers of smoking for pets. I mean, it’s not about us pets smoking, it’s about the humans who smoke!

Wait a minute! I said this was serious business, not treat business.

Anyhow, this card had a tag attached to it, to help remind humans that smoking is not only bad for them, it is also putting their pets’ health at risk. Yes, cats and dogs are twice as likely to get cancer if their humans smoke, but there’s more because smoking impacts the respiratory system, and poisons breathed into the respiratory system can cause problems with lungs and circulation too.

I hope you don’t smoke! It is a stinky habit. My human used to smoke, but she quit a long time ago — in fact, even before Sparkle came to live here. If you do smoke, or know someone who does that has cats, here are some tips to keep in mind to help cats avoid the dangers of secondhand smoke:

If at all possible, don’t smoke in the house, or nearby your cats.
Wash your cat’s beds regularly to get rid of any toxic smoking residue that may have settled there.
Keep your kitty well groomed, and wipe her down with pet wipes regularly
Some cats like to lick human hair. This is not a good habit if that human smokes, and it should be avoided.
Dispose of cigarette butts somewhere your cats can’t find them and chew on them or play with them. Preferably outside in the garbage.
Regular wellness checkups are even more important for cats living with smokers, so if they develop any tobacco-related illnesses, they are caught early.
Quitting smoking is always an option! Your cat, your lungs, and even your wardrobe will thank you.

And thank you for listening to my message! If you want to help spread the word, you can take a cat selfie and tag @truthorange. You can also use the hashtags #FinishIt and #Catmageddon. I will be doing that some time today on my own Instagram account!
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My 2016 calendars are here!

Friskies Cat Concoctions Giveaway – For You or Your Favorite Rescue

This is going to be a quick and simple blog post. The nice humans at Purina sent me some coupons to give away to my readers. Here are the details.

Purina® Friskies® Cat Concoctions are a new canned food that comes in four savory flavor combinations:

Scrumptious Salmon & Chicken Liver Dinner Pate
Chicken in Creamy Crabby Sauce
Cod in Cheesy Bacon Flavored Sauce
Lamb in Clam Flavored Sauce

I have five coupons to give away, each for two free cans of your choice of these flavors! That’s 10 cans total. You can enter for yourself, or you can give the coupons to your favorite cat rescue. Since the value is in U.S. dollars, this is a U.S. only giveaway, but my international pals can enter, and if one of them wins, they can tell me their favorite stateside rescue, and I will send them the coupons on their behalf!

Sound good? Just leave a comment below, and then say you did on the Rafflecopter widget below! Also leave me your best email address on the Rafflecopter widget so that I can contact you if you win. Those are the only options on the widget — I wanted to make it easy for you. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was provided these coupons by Purina and received no other compensation.
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My 2016 calendars are here!

I Got Blessed!

One thing my human has always wanted to do was take a kitty to the annual Blessing of the Animals event at the Olvera Street Plaza. It happens every year there, the day before Easter. My human is not Catholic — she is not even religious — but she loves the ritual and ceremonial aspects of Catholicism, especially when the traditions take on a Hispanic influence, as they often do in our area. Plus this event is as much a piece of Los Angeles history as it is a religious ceremony — it has been going on since 1930. So she put on my pretty polka dot dress and we went. (She put a dress on me not only because I look pretty in it, but also because it makes me calmer, and she wanted to make sure I felt all right in the midst of the crowd.)

We took the Metro Rail Gold Line down to Union Station. The Olvera Street Plaza is right across the street.

There was a big crowd of humans with their pets! Hundreds of people. You can see Union Station in the background of this photograph.

While we were waiting we were entertained by this dancing horse.

This family had an interesting way of bringing their dogs!

Several humans, like this one, brought birdies!

My human and I waited by some ferrets. It turns out that the human who was with them knows the humans who run S.C.A.R., the Abyssinian cat rescue from my commenthon, so she and my human had a lot to talk about. I was jealous of the ferrets. They got to go out on their leashes. My human made me stay in the carrier, even though I had my leash. I think she was being overprotective.

After about an hour, the procession started!

A cow always leads the procession, and the Archbishop of Los Angeles is not far behind.

The Archbishop human took his place on the small stage and sprinkled Holy Water on everybody’s pets as they passed by. My human had my carrier open so I could get sprinkled on good. Even though she is not religious, she says she is not taking any chances with me!

We were somewhere in the middle. There were still lots of humans with their pets walking past after us.

My human let me look around the Plaza a bit. There were all sorts of creatures.

My human went crazy over these two! She loves reptiles. I did not get to sniff them.

I know there were other cats at the Blessing of the Animals but my human and I only saw this one. I heard later there was a Sphynx with an Instagram account. I followed him, but so far he hasn’t followed me back.

So that was my big adventure! I can’t wait to go again next year.
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My 2016 calendars are here!

Respect Binga Day

I wasn’t planning on doing a post about Respect Your Cat Day. I mean, what a silly concept — not only do all cats deserve respect, they usually insist on it.

And then somebody insisted she didn’t get enough respect!

So I’m out of here. I’ll let her take over.

Don’t listen to the pipsqueak. Respect Your Cat Day is a very important day. If a cat does not get the respect she deserves, she needs to grab it! Maybe when no one is looking.

In fact, the word RESPECT contains the secret on how to get it!

Remind humans constantly that you must be respected.

Emphasize the importance of your getting respect — and be prepared to mete out punishment to those who do not listen!

Smack those who do not give you the respect you deserve. Bites are optional.

Promise that no one gets away with disrespecting you. Remember, keeping your promises is a great way to get respect.

Extreme measures might have to be taken if you are not satisfied with the amount of respect you are being given.

Claws — a sure way to win respect from those who are reluctant.

Take respect if it is not given freely to you!

Any questions?
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My 2016 calendars are here!

Olvera Street Selfie

If you recall my trip to Union Station about a week and a half ago, I hinted at what this was a practice run for, and the real thing happened yesterday: the Blessing of the Animals at Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles!

It is a very big deal here and I will tell you all about it tomorrow or Tuesday. But first I wanted to get my Sunday Selfies out of the way. I had to do it in my carrier because there were so many dogs around and my human wanted to make sure I was safe.

Hmm… not sure I like this one. I’m all scrunched up in the carrier. Maybe I’ll try sitting up.

Sorry, I got distracted — between the dogs barking and the Mexican music, there’s a lot going on here.

There was also a lot to see! And you’ll get to see some of it too when I do a full post on my blog. For now, this selfie will have to do.

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My 2016 calendars are here!

Saturday Catinee: Train Kept A Rollin’

When you saw the train set my human brought home on my birthday, you were probably wondering why she didn’t get any video.

Well, actually she did! She shot several clips — some including Binga, still sporting her stylish ultrasound shave — but they were kind of a mess, so she needed to take some time to edit them down and put them together. All that time filming and she got maybe a minute’s worth of usable material… all of which you can watch below (note how my ears wiggle at the beginning):

If you can’t see the above video, click here to watch it on YouTube!
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My 2016 calendars are here!

Do Rescue Cats Need a Matchmaker?

There are online dating sites for all sorts of humans — religious humans, hipster humans, even humans who love heavy metal! And these sites really do work — humans go on dates already knowing they have something in common, and sometimes lasting friendships and relationships form. So why not do the same for humans and cats? Wouldn’t it be helpful to know that you were looking at cats that shared your energy level, that would be happy in the space you have to offer them, that have a personality that compliments yours? There will soon be a website that does just that!

Actually PawsLikeMe.com already offers an adoption match service for dogs, and it has been working pretty well. Last year, using the first ever human-to-pet matching algorithm, they were able to connect 2 million humans with adoptable dogs using a simple quiz… and now they want to do the same for cats! The algorithm has to be retooled because, as you know, feline personality is way different from canine personality. We kitties have our own list of needs, very different from dogs — plus we are not all alike! Just look at my household — you couldn’t find three cats that are any more different than me, Binga and Boodie! In fact, let’s see what Binga and Boodie might want to look for in a human.

Binga’s ideal human…

Does what he is told
Does not mind nagging
Likes cats who are rebels and troublemakers
Follows orders promptly
Knows that cats belong on dining room tables, counters, and anywhere else they care to be
Has treats and food on hand always and shares human food — or does not mind it being stolen
Listens to complaints and modifies behavior accordingly
Other cats are okay, but only if they recognize dominance and brilliance
Did I mention obedience?

Boodie’s ideal human, on the other hand…

Must have other cats in the family
Never bothers her and leaves her alone
Okay, can grab her if she is going to pet her
Never mind, go away
Is quiet and, yes, non-grabby
Well, grabby is okay if it means petting maybe this once
Nope, would rather be left alone
Is patient about grooming and does not use restraint
Does not take her toys away when she is hunting them and screaming at 3 AM

See what I mean? Actually I’m not so sure that Binga and Boodie are ideal matches with the humans here, but they are definitely well suited for each other!

Anyhow, PawsLikeMe needs funds to add cats to their pet matching site, and they have an Indiegogo campaign that recently started which deserves your support! I think it would be really helpful for humans to do an assessment of what they are really looking for in a cat — and what they have to offer one – and then find cats who fit that. Their campaign is trying to raise $15,000 — but if they go over, they will use the extra money to supply shelters with PawsLikeMe kiosks to match adopters to pets inside the shelter! There are a variety of cool perks in this Indiegogo campaign, so check them out!

Do you think this idea is as awesome as I do? And if you kitties were able to pick your ideal human, what traits would you want?

No disclosure here — this post is completely unsolicited.
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My 2016 calendars are here!

Easter PSA With Bunny Costume

How come all these holidays are so dangerous for kitties and other animals? There’s tinsel at Christmas, which is dangerous if eaten; scary, noisy fireworks for Independence Day, and now we have Easter which sounds like a total accident waiting to happen! Let’s look at some of the dangers:

There’s the plastic Easter grass which, like tinsel, can get tangled up in feline intestines, resulting in an unwelcome trip to the emergency vet clinic. We only use paper Easter grass here.
There’s lots of candy and chocolate — fortunately cats usually aren’t interested in sweets, but if you have a dog, she might eat it and get sick.
The abundance of toxic lilies, which can kill a cat with just one bite or a lick of pollen! Please do not let these in or around your house if you live with kitties. If a cat eats the tiniest bit of any part of a lily or gets pollen on her, she needs to go to the emergency clinic immediately… and even then she may not make it. If you want a festive spring flower for Easter, here are some quick suggestions.
The selling of bunnies as pets, which endangers so many buns because humans usually don’t realize what high maintenance pets they are! Even worse is that some humans set pet bunnies loose outside when they get bored of them, and domestic bunnies are totally unsuited for a life in the wild. Bunnies make awesome pets if you are willing to put in the effort and research — but do that weeks, maybe a few months in advance if you are considering adopting a bunny (and there are rescue organizations that have bunnies, so keep that in mind).

Instead of bringing home a live bunny for Easter, why not bring home a cute toy bunny instead? Or you can always put your cat in a bunny costume for a little while.

Binga does not agree with the costume part! But I say sacrificing her dignity for a few minutes is way better than bringing home a real bunny, which should have a lifetime commitment.

I hope you have a safe and fun Easter, and if your humans serve it, that you get some tastes of ham!
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My 2016 calendars are here!

Outtakes From Here and There

It’s been a while since I’ve featured random outtakes, so they’ve piled up! Here they are:

My human thought she’d have me give this St. Patrick’s Day hat a try. As you can see, she shouldn’t have bothered.

You would have thought she’d gotten the memo after that, but no — she had to put it on Binga too, just to make sure it looked as bad on her as it did on me. And it did.

“And now I present to you — Boodie! Apparently choking on a cat treat.”

I don’t know why I look so utterly affronted by my birthday cake! Honestly, I couldn’t wait to dig in.

Thank you to my human, for making my butt look humongous! Sheesh.

This photo of me waiting to go back in the house would have been cute… if the leash hadn’t been wrapped around my tail! Yes, my human fixed it before opening the door.

I hope you liked my outtakes today!
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My 2016 calendars are here!

Out and About

I have been a very busy kitty lately! Since it will be a few weeks before I have another cat show to attend, my human has been taking me out more. Yesterday’s trip was really important — it was to the vet clinic to get my therapy cat health certificate filled out!

On the way there, we stopped at the pet store for a few things.

We couldn’t stay very long, since we needed to be on time for my appointment, which was a bummer. I could have hung out on the cat trees for hours!

Back at the house, I visited with Smokey through the screen. It got torn up by some mean neighborhood cat, so she doesn’t get the door open very often anymore. Yes, Smokey is still living in our upstairs area and she still needs a home!

I also went downstairs and visited with my human’s boyfriend. I like being social!

And yes, I jumped up on this air conditioner condenser all by myself! It’s not much higher than the kitchen counters I’m not supposed to be on.
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My 2016 calendars are here!