Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 383

Friday Frolic

Yesterday’s photo was from a shoot where my human was trying to get me to look lively. So instead of plying me with treats, she played with me. The only problem is that I got a little too lively and most of the photos were a little crazy and/ or out of focus! Here are some samples — you’ll see what I mean.

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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!

We Can Be Heroes… Just for One Day

The Just One Day movement does not get a lot of attention in the cat blogging community, and I wish it did! Every year on June 11, animal shelters are urged to stop euthanizing adoptable pets for “just one day” and instead hold events and adoption drives to place cats and dogs that might have otherwise lost their lives.

Last year, 1,300 shelters and animal control facilities in all 50 states pledged to be no-kill for just one day — and 13,000 pets were adopted! I hope that this year, they do even better.

The great thing about the Just One Day movement is that no one is asking open admission (i.e., kill) shelters to immediately change everything they’re doing — all it asks is that these shelters try something different on June 11 in the hopes that it gets them thinking about better ways to handle the pets that get surrendered or turned in to them.

A no-kill nation is not just possible — it is very doable, but it requires a shift in thinking about homeless pets, and developing new approaches to rehoming cats and dogs. But none of this is complicated or difficult. It just takes a group of humans willing to take action.

Has a shelter near you chosen to be a hero for Just One Day? You can find a list on the right hand sidebar of Just One Day’s Pledge page. There are also some Canadian shelters, and one in Australia, taking part.

My calendar didn’t let me know about Just One Day until yesterday. I will try to keep better track next year — that way I can warn you well in advance so you can encourage shelters in your community to take part.

You can visit the Just One Day website here; their Facebook page is here.
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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!

Get Ready for Cat World Domination Day!

You’ll have to excuse this photo. It was humid yesterday, which never happens here, and I melted right out of my cat bed. So it was kind of hard to look lively, even though I have exciting news to report!

As many of you know, one of Sparkle’s fondest and most popular legacies was Cat World Domination Day (which was also her birthday). Since I’m more easy going and not quite as passionate about World Domination (I mean, we already won that battle anyhow), we are going to continue celebrating it on Sparkle’s birthday and not mine. Which means it is coming up fast — it is Wednesday, June 24, two weeks from today! Above is the banner if you want to post it on Facebook or make a Cat World Domination announcement of your own. Below is a smaller badge if you want to put it on your sidebar. Grab either one, if you want!

I have some fun and awesome things planned for you! I will be doing my BlogPaws swag giveaway that day — and I will also have a surprise or two planned!

My human is working on the menu I gave her right now! Which is a good thing because I’m having trouble getting up with this hot, damp weather. But don’t worry, I’ll get to work soon too! Binga’s also very excited about Cat World Domination Day.

Or she will be once she gets up!
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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!

Open Wide!

For some weird reason, my human got a lot of open-mouthed photos of me during the shoot for yesterday’s blog post.

As you can tell, for a small cat, I can open up my mouth really, really wide!

This one is my favorite. I may have done it on purpose.

Oh, and she also took a photo of me cleaning out something that was caught between my toes. Sometimes I think she does these on purpose.
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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!

#MyRescueStory Starring Binga, and the Building Better Lives Adoption Drive

This post is sponsored by Purina, but Binga always likes to see her rescue story in print! Purina is not responsible for the contents of this story, and all opinions are our own.

Some of you know how Binga wound up here and some of you don’t… but it’s always worth telling again! And it’s my way of introducing you to a really great adoption drive that Purina Cat Chow is having that will help get a lot of cats adopted, with your help!

Many, many years ago, my human and her boyfriend made friends with a neighborhood cat who went missing for a couple of weeks. My human went searching for him at the local animal control facility. He wasn’t there… but this amazingly friendly young black cat was. My human decided she wanted him, but it was October, and they weren’t adopting out black cats until after Halloween, for the cats’ own safety. While my human was discussing this with the shelter workers, there was a crazy little tortoiseshell kitten desperately begging for attention, mewling and reaching out through the bars of her cage, trying to grab anyone she could get her paws on. My human didn’t want to leave this crazy little cat behind, but she already was planning on picking up the black kitty November 1. Fortunately, her boyfriend worked at a vet clinic at the time, so she figured she could rescue the tortie kitten, take her to the clinic, and she could find a home with their help. The clinic often had adoptable kittens there.

So that’s how it worked out… except when my human went to get the black kitty a few minutes after animal control opened on November 1, somebody else had already adopted him! The person who had brought him in as a stray actually wanted him, but had turned him in just to make sure he didn’t belong to anyone else. When he wasn’t claimed, she picked him up as soon as she could. The animal control people were surprised because in those days, two people never wanted the same cat, much less a black one. So my human went home empty-handed, called her boyfriend at work, and told him to bring home the kitten. And that’s how Binga came to live here. She was named Binga because she bounced off the walls – bing, bing, bing! She also thought it was fun to attack the human’s faces first thing in the morning to wake them up. Fortunately she grew out of that.

Binga has a lot of tortitude, and the cat before Sparkle, a calico, did not like her at all. Binga also used to get on Sparkle’s nerves a lot, as many of you remember. I can see why, but you know what? She is my pal and I am glad the humans brought her home all those years ago.

Now it is your turn to share your cat’s rescue story! Purina Cat Chow has pledged to subsidize adoptions for at least 2,500 cats – 50 cats at each of its 50 shelter partners, one shelter in each state. Here is where you come in: share your cat’s adoption story with the hashtag #MyRescueStory on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, and Purina Cat Chow will donate $30 towards a cat adoption fee at one of the shelters, up to a total of $75,000! I’m sure lots of you out there have great adoption stories!

Purina Cat Chow has also donated $25,000 towards a shelter makeover to one of its partner animal welfare organizations to help enrich the lives of the cats that are waiting for homes there, and they will announce the shelter June 18!

That’s a lot of help for kitties in need!

To recap:

Tell your adoption story using the hashtag #MyRescueStory
For each story Purina Cat Chow will subsidize a cat adoption at one of its partner shelters for $30, up to a total of $75,000.
For more information, visit www.catchow.com, or visit Purina Cat Chow on Facebook or Twitter (@catsoutofthebag).

Remember, June is Adopt a Cat Month, and this is an awesome way to help promote cat adoption!

Binga and I hope to see your rescue stories on social media 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!

Outdoor Close-Up Selfies

The other day, when I was out front watching the birds, I decided to take some really tight close-up selfies for Selfie Sunday.

At first, I accidentally took the photo before I was ready!

Ugh! I thought I was supposed to get better, not worse!

Then I got distracted because of all the birds.

I still wasn’t looking directly into the camera, but I think this one works!

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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: Crazy Commercials for Cat Adoption

You know those maudlin commercials that big animal welfare organizations put out, with the sappy music and sad furry faces? I don’t like them either! We kitties want fun and laughter when humans create ads for us — because that is what you get when you adopt a cat. So, in that spirit, and because June is Adopt a Cat Month, I have three pretty silly cat adoption videos from shelters that prefer to offer up their message with a smile. A couple were posted by my fellow cat bloggers, and one I found on my own.

Here’s an in-FUR-mercial from the Animal Foundation in Las Vegas, touting the benefits of having your own pet cat! (Thanks to the Conscious Cat for finding this one.)

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

Cat Chat with Caren and Cody found this used cat commercial from Michigan Humane:

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

Tenth Life Cat Rescue in St. Louis, MO, shows how cats can add meaning to an otherwise dreary life:

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

5 Reasons Why I’m an Outgoing Kitty

Some of you met me at BlogPaws and were delighted by how outgoing, friendly and relaxed I was, even though I was far from home and surrounded by people and dogs. My ability to be comfortable at the conference, at cat shows, and other public places was not an accident. How did I get this way? It comes down to five things, and all but one of them can be helped along by a good human! Let’s look at them one by one.

I was born this way.

This is what humans can’t control, at least not very much. My parents are actually known for having kittens with great temperaments, but even so, not every one of their kittens was as outgoing as me. Only a few of us. The rest still have great temperaments, but are more comfortable at home, so they lead private lives.

 
My outgoing nature was nurtured.

As a kitten, I got a load of enrichment — lots of human interaction, car rides, outings, and I was just a few days past four months old when I started doing cat shows. If I had just stayed home, I would have wound up like any other cat — a happy, fun companion in the house, but scared whenever I had to go anywhere. When it was discovered that I enjoyed being out in public, I got to do more of it, and when my human brought me home, she kept finding new adventures for me, like going to the L.A. Feline Film Festival, and traveling long distances to cat shows where we had to stay in hotels. Every time I was introduced to something new, I was carefully watched to make sure I wasn’t going too far outside of my comfort zone.

 
I am rewarded for good behavior.

My human is fortunate that I am highly food motivated, so she always keeps small treats onhand when we are doing something outside of the house — or even sometimes in the house. For example, when she first put a harness on me, the first thing she did once it was on was to offer me a treat, and then she played with me. It was easy to forget that I was even wearing a harness! I also often get a treat during and when I return from outings, so I always have a good feeling about them.

 
I am taken out frequently, and consistently.

If my human only took me outside in the front yard once a month and nothing else, I would soon become housebound. But she takes me out a lot — sometimes in the neighborhood, sometimes to the pet store, and she tries to take me on a bigger adventure at least twice a month. It can be a cat show, or a conference like BlogPaws, or soon, I’m hoping to start visiting places to do therapy work. We also have a little routine — she says it is to keep me “grounded.” I know a few tricks, like doing High Five, Stay, and Sit Up (I’m still working on the latter — right now I’m still too grabby with my paws). So when we are somewhere new, noisy or potentially stressful, she will often have me do these familiar tricks so I realize I have nothing to fear… and I get a treat reward! People in airports and hotel lobbies are always impressed by my tricks, and they don’t even realize that doing them is helping me stay calm.

 
I trust my human implicitly.

I couldn’t go anywhere and feel secure unless I knew that my human was watching out for me and keeping me safe. This is very important because when a kitty is in a strange place, it can be very scary! But my human always reassures me and when she thinks I have had enough of being in any situation, she will put me in my carrier and take me home or back to my hotel room. She is always monitoring me, and I can tell she won’t push me farther than I am comfortable. While she can’t anticipate everything, she makes sure that if there is something that might upset or startle me — a passing car, a dog, or a loud noise — that she is holding me firmly, or has put me in my sling or carrier. She does her best to make our outings fun too. Because I trust my human, I know I can be braver than the average kitty.

I would love to see more kittens and cats given the opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy fun activities! So if a kitty happens to come into your life that seems to be born more outgoing, please nurture that quality. You’ll get big rewards!
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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!

#TBT – Kitten Pics

For Throwback Thursday, I thought I’d share some photos from when I first came home. I’m not even home yet here. It’s from when my human brought me to her hotel room for the night after helping with me at a cat show. I wasn’t officially hers yet. Note the sliver of tongue.

This is from the first couple of days after I came home. As you can tell, I was already a very confident kitty!

My first trip to the vet clinic that my human uses. Little did I know I would be back a few days later to be spayed!

And this is from a recent photo session — it’s the photo that’s going on my CFA Regional Win trophy, which I’ll be getting in a little over a 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!

Back to My Regular Schedule

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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!