Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 360

Tabby James Catnip Gift Box Giveaway!

Remember a few months ago when I got an awesome box set of catnip and valerian from Tabby James? Well, the Tabby James human contacted me recently to ask if I’d like some more… plus have a giveaway on my blog! You can bet I said yes! A few days later I got a package in the mail.

There are three amazingly fragrant jars: regular cut catnip, fine cut catnip and valerian root! Plus a catnip pouch. All nicely packaged.

The great thing about Tabby James’ nip is that it is organic and sourced in the Pacific Northwest. You won’t find any finer nip to sprinkle on toys (or to marinate cat toys in), or just enjoy on its own. Even better, you can either get Tabby James’ fine products at their website, or you can get their gift set like the one you see here on Amazon! That means if you belong to Amazon Prime, your shipping is free!

But enough of all that — it’s time to dig in!

Although I think it is mostly meant to be sprinkled, the regular cut catnip is great right out of the jar!

So is the fine cut nip! This one is great to use in recipes for even distribution.

Be careful with the valerian root — you might wind up seeing pink mousies!

My only caution is watch out if one of your family members is a mean drunk.

And you can win your own awesome gift box if you live in the U.S. (because of customs restrictions) and enter my giveaway using the Rafflecopter widget below! For the first entry, just comment on my blog, and say you did on the Rafflecopter widget, and that will unlock a bunch of other ways to enter! The giveaway ends Monday, January 25. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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My 2016 calendars are here! Find my regular calendar on Lulu.com — OR get my calendar of outtakes from Zazzle!

Dress-Up Day

Today is “Dress Up Your Pet Day!” My human did not even know this day existed until I came to live with her. Somehow, Sparkle managed to keep it a secret. But I like getting dressed up, so I am happy to celebrate this day. Besides, I have a special event coming up — in about a week, I will be at the biggest cat show on the West Coast, and it will be my first time as a “Pet Me” cat! That means I don’t compete, I just let people visit with me. My human thought it would be fun if I had a few outfits to wear occasionally over that weekend.

So we went shopping at PetSmart this week, but there wasn’t much there! The problem is, it is between seasons, and the only things that were available were sports jerseys and we all hate sports in my family, or a few dresses from the Martha Stewart collection. I have the same problem my human does — I tend to be between sizes. Sometimes I am an X-Small, and sometimes I am a Small, depending on how the sizes run. In this case, I thought the X-Small would fit better.

It is just the teensiest big snug, but I do think it is cute! It will be good for spring. Fortunately, my human stopped at PetCo a day later (she had a bunch of errands so she couldn’t take me), and picked up some more outfits for me.

Here is an adorable little Valentine’s Day dress! I think this one is my favorite out of everything I had to wear for this session.

You have to see the back, though! I tried posing from this angle but it didn’t work out.

Isn’t this just the coolest dress?

This hoodie is pretty nice too, and the hood part is large enough so it only bothers my ears a little bit.

You have to see the back of this one too — it’s got sparkly red bows.

I’ve had this pink polkadot harness for a while but haven’t had the chance to show it off yet.

Here it is from above. I think it is really pretty.

And since tomorrow is National Hat Day, I have to wear a hat too — my human got me this black panama hat a while back when I was doing my Caturday Reports because she wanted me to look like a real reporter. But I never did go back to doing the reports. I guess I am a failure as a journalist. At least I can still do the fashion part!

Which of my outfits today is your favorite?
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My 2016 calendars are here! Find my regular calendar on Lulu.com — OR get my calendar of outtakes from Zazzle!

Outtakes From the Photo Session You Didn’t See

Unless you get my newsletter, you didn’t see the photos from this session because it was for a giveaway that was only for my subscribers! I gave away two Catit items that I decided not to keep: the ergonomically-designed Multi Feeder, and the Senses 2.0 Grass planter, plus the seeds and vermiculite that went with it. But of course I couldn’t even do a simple photo shoot without stuff happening… as you will see below.

I just picked a winner for these items and expect to hear back from them soon! If you want to get in on these subscriber-only giveaways, sign up for my newsletter near the top of the right hand sidebar — I surprise my newsletter pals with them several times a year! But don’t worry — my next giveaway will be for everybody… and I will be announcing it on Friday!

Note: Catit links are Amazon Associate links and I get a small commission if you click on them and buy something at Amazon.
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My 2016 calendars are here! Find my regular calendar on Lulu.com — OR get my calendar of outtakes from Zazzle!

Everycat’s a Critic

If you read my pals Kitty Cat Chronicles’ blog, you know that I won the PetSafe Cheese Cat Toy! It arrived about a week ago, but it took a while for the humans to get batteries for it.

So my human pulled it out of the box and set it in front of me, and I was like, “So?”

She was so sure I was going to do something interesting, she shot video of it being turned on… and wound up with the most boring video ever! That is, unless you like videos of cats sitting there with their ears twitching because that is about all I did. I did poke at the toy a couple of times eventually. If anyone is interested, I’ll upload it to Facebook, but trust me, there is nothing viral about it and my human thinks she will just delete it.

Boodie came over after a while and stared at it. I tried playing with it a little more but it just wasn’t something I was interested in. I prefer playing fetch with my sparkle ball.

I decided to go off and roll around on the rug and make silly faces.

I was also in the perfect position to photo bomb Binga when my human tried to get a couple of photos of her.

I guess we’re just not into mechanical toys here! What about you kitties? Do you like them or are you low tech like we are?
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My 2016 calendars are here! Find my regular calendar on Lulu.com — OR get my calendar of outtakes from Zazzle!

Left Out!

There was a lot about this weekend that did not make me happy! Like the selfie photo session with Binga, for example.

She got to go outside and do photographs without me! I was very upset about being left inside.

Then there was a cat show this weekend and I didn’t go… but my human went! She said I didn’t go because I am in cat shows for the next three weekends, and she only went for a few hours on Saturday, but I still am bummed I stayed home. She mainly went to visit my breeder, and my half-brother Chilly. He is growing up to be so handsome… and you can totally tell we are related, even though he is blue and I am ruddy!

He had lots of fun in the rings. I am a little jealous.

My pal who I compete against sometimes, BJ, was there too, and he did very well — he got seven out of 10 finals. There were four Somali cats competing in Premiership this weekend, even without me! Since Chilly is going to help continue the line I was part of, he competes with different cats from me, BJ, Zuri (who you can just barely see in the background here) and the other two Somalis. We are all altered.

My human could tell I was bummed about being left out of so much, so she put a dress on me, which immediately made me feel like I was special again! Okay, I know I’m weird.

She also let me supervise while she took all the ornaments off the tree and put them away.

My breeder gave my human a couple of gifts to bring home to me too. One was an awesome designer wand-style cat toy from an Etsy store called Ceylon’s Wanderland. The toy has Swarovski crystals and feathers on one end.

And the other end has the red dot! It’s an amazing toy and I love it! In fact, my human had to hide it because I kept trying to hunt it down.

She also found a cute pink and rhinestone t-shirt at PetSmart! It’s a little small, but it still fits.

Okay, I think I feel better now.
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My 2016 calendars are here! Find my regular calendar on Lulu.com — OR get my calendar of outtakes from Zazzle!

Binga Outside Selfies

Since so many of you enjoyed seeing Binga outside in a harness, I figured I would let her do the selfies this week — outdoors! So let’s go.

Somebody needs to tell her not to push the button when she’s still setting up the iPhone.

I bet she would try to pass this off as an arty shot, but I am here to tell you that it was a mistake!

I have to say, this one worked out well!

Here’s one from another angle, and she didn’t cut herself off. I don’t like giving Binga compliments because they always go to her head, but I have to admit she did a good job with these!

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My 2016 calendars are here! Find my regular calendar on Lulu.com — OR get my calendar of outtakes from Zazzle!

I Give the Pet Blogger Challenge a Try!

I found out about the Pet Blogger Challenge just a few days ago &dmash; basically you have to answer a few questions about your blog, and actually they are not all that easy to answer! But I wanted to do it because I thought you would enjoy reading a little about me behind the scenes, and how I feel about blogging.

1. How long have you been blogging?

I’ve only been blogging since August, 2014. But Sparkle, who had the blog before me, started in January, 2003. So this blog has existed for 13 years. That’s a long time!

And, for anyone who is visiting for the first time, please give a quick description of the subject of your blog.

It’s all about cat life! Mostly fun, but sometimes serious and informative. Sparkle, who was very wise, offered lots of advice (for both cats and the humans who live with them) in addition to journal entries about her life. I do that too, about things I know, but I don’t know anywhere near as much as Sparkle did! I do have more adventures because I travel places and go to cat shows, so I write a lot about that now.

2. What is the one thing that you accomplished during 2015, either on your blog or because of it, that made you most proud?

This was my first full year as a cat blogger, and I think the thing that made me most proud was continuing the spirit of Sparkle’s blog while adding in my own personality! Sometimes I look back and I’m pretty amazed at how it all worked out.

3. Which of your blog posts was your favorite this year and why?

It’s really hard to pick one, because I like a lot of them but none of them really stand out. Maybe my post about my trip to BlogPaws! That was a big event for me in 2015. I also like my post about Feline Facial Expressions for When Your Human Misbehaves. I’ve been told I always have good expressions!

4. What is one thing you’ve done in the past year that has brought more traffic to your blog?

My traffic has been pretty consistent over the past year. My human has been working on ways to bring in even more traffic, but she hasn’t come up with a real winner. I am going to be doing more personal appearances, and I have a sign now with my blog URL and all my social media that I bring with me to cat shows. For me, I think meeting people will help lots!

5. Which of your blog posts got the most traffic this year? Why do you think it was so popular?

Honestly, the post that got the most traffic was one of Sparkle’s from 2013: Seven Things Humans Do That Really Annoy Cats. What can I say? It is a great post, so no wonder it is still getting clicked on! Also it ranks really high on Google. My giveaway posts generally get the most traffic, and other than that, one post drew a lot of traffic, and I have no idea why: it’s just me with a piece of paper hanging off my tail! It’s kind of embarrassing, really.

6. What is one blog that you read religiously — other than your own — and what makes you such a devoted reader?

I really can’t answer that one because there are probably about a hundred blogs I visit every day! Well, maybe not that many, but there are a lot! I just enjoy being part of the cat blogging community in general.

7. What resources do you rely on to enhance your technical, writing, photography, social media, or other skills that improve your blog?

My human uses Google a lot for all that! If she has a question, she does research. She also has a monthly subscription to Lynda.com because she is always working on making her Adobe skills better (meaning Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator).

8. What is the best piece of advice you can offer other bloggers?

Do it because you love it — because to be successful, you need to be consistent, and if you aren’t loving it, why do you want to keep going back and doing it? Be part of a community, both in the blogging world and on social media. I don’t know why anyone would want to blog in a vacuum. The community has been the best part — and meeting lots of the bloggers and Instagram humans in person at BlogPaws and at cat shows has been great.

9. What is your vision for your blog in 2016? Do you have specific goals?

I am hoping to pass my evaluation as a therapy cat in the spring, and if I do, I will be writing lots about that. I really want to encourage people to consider giving their cats new experiences — taking them out on harnesses and leashes, teaching them to do tricks, and doing things that people normally don’t think cats can do. I am exceptionally outgoing, but I don’t think I’m all that unique. Heck, my roommate Binga is 15-1/2 and she learned to walk on a leash with no problem!

10. You have the attention of the pet blogging community — is there one blogging challenge you’d like help with, or one aspect of your blog that you’d like input on?

Not really! Although sometimes I’d like help with Binga… she can get out of control.
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My 2016 calendars are here! Find my regular calendar on Lulu.com — OR get my calendar of outtakes from Zazzle!

Kitty Costume Cruel or Cute? You Decide!

As you know, I wear costumes sometimes, and usually I am fine with it. I get treats, and often I play while wearing an outfit, or wander off during a photo shoot with it on… just like when I’m not wearing anything at all! Remember the New Year’s Eve hat I was wearing around my neck? I barely noticed it was there. I’m au naturel today, though, because I am discussing something that, while funny, might also be a bit serious.

A popular Japanese YouTube human with 10 cats (the account is actually called 10 Cats) posted a video of one of their feline stars wearing a monkey costume. Actually it’s not even a costume — it’s more of a plushie with a hollow face that the cat’s head can fit through. You can see the video below:

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

The thing is, some people seem to think that the outfit is cruel and the video has gotten a lot of complaints and down votes. As a cat who wears outfits, I have to disagree with these people. Cats that don’t like wearing something will immediately squirm out of it or shake it off. I’ve done that, and if my human thinks I really hate it, she won’t make me wear it anymore. This cat just sits there with it on, and while he doesn’t always look thrilled, most of the time he doesn’t look unhappy either. In fact, he seems pretty enthusiastic about that banana! (I’m guessing there was something meaty rubbed on it… although, who knows? Maybe he really does like bananas. I enjoy cantaloupe, after all.)

So I have my opinion… but I want to hear yours! After you’ve watched the video, vote in the poll below and tell me in the comments: do you think this monkey costume is cute or cruel?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
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My 2016 calendars are here! Find my regular calendar on Lulu.com — OR get my calendar of outtakes from Zazzle!

Sun and Rain #ThrowbackThursday

Okay, so this photo isn’t that much of a throwback — it’s from the last day of 2015, when we had some decent sun.

We only had a few sunny days before the rains started happening (they’ve been going nonstop since Tuesday), so I tried to enjoy myself while I could. ’Cause I knew there was no way I was going out when it was wet.

My human tried that a year ago, when there was some rain happening. I did-not-like!

I just wanted to go back inside! And can you blame me? My human wanted to know what I’d think of the rain and she found out right away.

I was quite happy to stay dry inside.

My human hasn’t taken me out in the rain since, unless it’s in a car and we are going somewhere inside. I think the Christmas tree is coming down today, so I need to supervise anyhow.
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My 2016 calendars are here! Find my regular calendar on Lulu.com — OR get my calendar of outtakes from Zazzle!

What Happened After the Last Photo Yesterday

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My 2016 calendars are here! Find my regular calendar on Lulu.com — OR get my calendar of outtakes from Zazzle!