Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 374

My New Scratcher

Maybe some of you are wondering why my human said I didn’t need another scratcher yesterday at PetSmart. This is why! The nice Katris human sent me one of his scratcher units as a thank you for spreading the word about their Kickstarter campaign.

It came nicely wrapped… but of course I wanted to get to it already!

And — ta-da! It’s nice and sturdy. My human was a little surprised at how heavy it was.

I thought that was my spot!

But that wasn’t all — I got wood veneer covers to go over the sides, like they have in their Kickstarter campaign.

They look easy enough to put on.

For some reason, my human didn’t want Binga and me to supervise. But we did anyway.

She managed to get the covers on without getting any cat fur stuck on them… and they look great!

And those disc cutouts on the inside part? You actually assemble those into cat toys!

Thank you, Katris human! We are really enjoying our new scratcher.

The Kickstarter campaign is still live… help them hit their goal!

Disclosure: Although I got the Katris scratcher and cover as a thank-you, I was not asked to blog about it. I just felt like doing so!
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!

Shopping and Misbehaving

I got to go shopping with my human yesterday! We went to PetSmart, which is a little farther away from PetCo, because my human says their costumes are better. I guess I have more work ahead of me. But today, it’s all fun.

I got to hang out and meet people while my human shopped! I have several new fans now.

I also got to check out kinds of food my human doesn’t normally bring home. She found a few cans of food that, after reading the ingredient labels, she felt would be okay to bring home for us cats.

I also got to check out the scratchers, even though my human said we don’t need another one right now.

Of course I paid no attention to her.

I decided to try one out for myself! My human said I was not supposed to do that.

I didn’t care — I still got a treat when we got back in the car.

I can’t wait to go again!
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!

Behind the Scenes

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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!

A Real Happy Cat Month

Every September, the Catalyst Council celebrates Happy Cat Month, but as you can see, I am feeling a little dubious about it. I mean, I understand where the Catalyst Council is coming from — they want to promote ways to keep us kitties happy and healthy — but their “10 Ways to Make Your Cat Happy During Happy Cat Month” don’t sound all that joyful to us cats! They list things like taking us to the vet, giving us meds, working for food, etc. I do appreciate the intent behind all of that, but most of it does not sound fun to me! So I thought I’d put together my own list of things that would make me happy in September.

1. No cheesy costumes.

It’s true, I don’t mind costumes all that much and Halloween is coming up and all, but could I please avoid the really dumb outfits and just wear nice things that don’t make me look too silly?

2. No ill-fitting hats either.

It’s hard to find a hat that feels good for me to wear with my big ears, but if my human made the extra effort to find more comfortable headwear, that would make me happy!

3. More awesome treats!

Those raw chicken hearts were awesome! I’ve been waiting for a repeat but my human hasn’t been back to Whole Foods since she brought these home. I think a special Happy Cat Month trip is in order.

4. Let me off leash, just once, to chase birdies!

My human says this is not going to happen. I say, make me happy!

5. More hotel room stays!

At least my human has one scheduled for this month, but I’d love more!

So tell me — what would make you kitties happy this month?
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!

Is Your City Cat Friendly for Renters?

Binga, Boodie and I are very fortunate because our human owns her own home, and she has been a homeowner for a long time — even before Binga was born! A lot of cats aren’t as fortunate and their humans have to rent their homes, and are at the mercy of landlords’ rules. Some landlords put limits on the number of cats a renter can have, some ignorant or misinformed landlords want renters’ cats to be declawed… and some don’t allow cats at all. My human will never forget one really nice apartment she looked at when she was 20. It was just barely in her price range. She adored it, and the landlords liked her… but they did not allow cats and would not budge about that. So My human couldn’t live there because she had a cat that she loved more than she could ever love an apartment.

Living in one of the biggest cities in the U.S., it was not hard to find a place that did allow cats, and my human never had a problem finding cat friendly apartments. I know a lot of people aren’t so fortunate, and if for some reason they have to move out of a place they are renting, it can difficult finding a new apartment that allows cats.

Did you know there are some cities and states that have more cat-friendly rentals than others? I didn’t think about it that much until I saw a web page mentioned by one of the blogs I regularly visit, Feral Cat Behavior (you should read it! This woman works hard to help cats in her area). It lists the top cities, and states, for cat lovers in terms of rentals. Is your city on the list? How does your state rate? My human was a little disappointed to find out that New York, in general, is pretty lousy for being cat friendly — only 17% of apartments allow cats! In California, where we live, it’s less than half, although a city near us, Glendale, rates pretty high at 67%.

I don’t understand why so many landlords are so reluctant to rent to cat people. It’s well known that people with pets tend to be more responsible than those without… well, they kind of have to be since they have another life to take care of!

I know I have a lot of readers who do rent, or at least have been renters at some point in their past. I’d love to hear what it’s like out there for you, and any stories you have to tell about finding a place to live with your cat. Please tell me in the comments!
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!

On the Set Selfies

Along with doing my “dress up” photos, my human often uses whatever backdrop and lights are currently set up to do some regular posed photos of me. I use them here on the blog, or sometimes for other things. The last time we did photos, I thought it was time for some selfies.

I just need to grab the iPhone and get it set up.

The lighting never looks as nice when I’m doing selfies. I wonder if I can fix that.

Plus sometimes I forget to actually look at the camera… or anywhere near it!

That’s better! I had my human fix the exposure in Photoshop. Let’s see if I can do one without cutting off the tip of one ear.

Yay! I wished they turned out like this every week.

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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!

Saturday Catinee: He Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Cat Door!

I don’t know why this guy though his cat Philo needed a cat door… he seems to be getting in just fine already!

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

If you want more, here is a whole compilation of cats opening doors:

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

Incidentally, all the doors have lever handles like this at our house… but none of us cats have ever thought to use them!
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!

Hat Trick

Even though I got treats for this photo shoot, I still feel tricked! There are some hats that just won’t fit me, no matter what, and this witch’s hat was one of them.

I believe me, my human and I tried every which way.

This angle almost worked, even though I don’t look very witchy. Just sort of annoyed. Especially because my human forgot to pull my whiskers out of the elastic.

This hat is not going to be in the calendar. Not even in the outtakes calendar because all the decent photos were vertically oriented, and the calendar is horizontal. By the way, the calendar is almost done! And I may have a surprise for you this time around.
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!

Talk Like a Pirate… in a Card!

Remember last year when I had to wear that pirate costume? Like, several times? Well, my human finally made a card for my Zazzle shop!

I won’t tell you what it says inside… you will have to see it at my Zazzle shop to find out! Oh, and a quick note — any cards you buy today, August 27, at Zazzle are 50% off when you use code SUNSETZCARDS at checkout! It ends at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.

Go here if you want to see everything in my Zazzle shop! My human is on a roll right now… so we should be adding more things soon!
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!

This Time I Won!

Since I’ve acquired my human’s taste for trivia, I managed to win the quiz that Joanie at 15 and Meowing had about a week and a half ago! I don’t often win at games of chance, but when there are trivia questions involved, I do much better! Although I have to say, my pal Flynn had way more comprehensive answers to the questions than I did… I just happened to be there first!

Here are all the cool things I won: How to Massage Your Cat by Alice Brock of Alice’s Restaurant fame, and the fun, crocheted catnip cat toys that the 15 and Meowing human makes!

Plus I got a nice note from them.

I have to say, I am not so sure about some of these massage instructions! That Alice human may have enjoyed too many herbal substances in the 1960s. I hope my human does not take this book literally because I am sure Alice was kidding about a lot of this.

Don’t worry — I shared the toys. Now they are scattered all over the living room.
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!