Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 384

BlogPaws Gifts From My Pals

Lots of cat bloggers who came to BlogPaws brought gift packages with them for their friends! Sophie from Kitty Cat Chronicles and her human gave me this little bag that had one of their pretty crocheted flower ornaments and lots of fuzzy toy balls covered in catnip! I got to play with some of them before we left for home.

I didn’t get to see the gift bag from the Random Felines human until I got home. It was filled with cool kitty toys and a kitty ducky keychain for my human. But for some reason my human insists the little stripey balls are not cat toys! Maybe that’s why I look confused.

Marci, the president of the Cat Writers Association, gave us a bag of fresh catnip! That sure was appreciated! My human also got some nice things, including an I Love NY mirror from Lola the Rescued Cat’s human — and she didn’t even realize that my human’s favorite city ever is New York!

But my favorite gift of all was the peacock feather that Cathy Keisha’s human gave me! It just barely made it home in the suitcase and was a little worse for wear, but still lots of fun to play with.

Confession: it may be even worser for wear now!

Don’t worry — I’ll let Binga play with it eventually.
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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!

My BlogPaws Adventure!

So after yesterday’s selfie, I was put back in my carrier and my human and I boarded the flight to Nashville. My human gave me crunchy treats to help me with ear pressure when the plane took off and landed.

We arrived at BlogPaws the day before the exhibition hall and Cat Style Lounge opened, but my human needed to drop off a couple of books to Kate Benjamin at the Cat Style Lounge, so I got a sneak preview!

This cat tree TREE was possibly my favorite thing in the whole exhibition hall!

These cubes were pretty fun too.

That’s not a real cat next to me — it’s a flat cat. There were lots of those here! Too bad the litter wasn’t opened up and poured until the next day. I wanted to review it.

The next morning, my human picked up her badge (I didn’t need one) — and the awesome cat swag bag! Since this is my first BlogPaws, I don’t know what went on before, but my human says this is the best bag of cat items ever. Of course, I will be giving away much of it on Cat World Domination Day (yes, I am having it this year!).

Then my human gave me breakfast and had brunch (I hear it resulted in a blog post I will be doing in a couple of weeks), and she brought back some cantaloupe for me. I wasn’t expecting this special treat!

Then it was back to the Cat Style Lounge to check out more cat products!

I think I tried out all the cat trees and towers that were there!

This wall piece took some getting used to because I’d never seen anything like it.

I liked the Katio right away. But I’m used to show cages and enclosures, so that is probably why.

Don’t tell anyone, but I took a sip out of this fountain. I don’t know if I was allowed.

There were other kitties at the conference too! Katie and Waffles were there, but I didn’t meet them — my human didn’t want to stress them out, or possibly me either. Then there was this guy in the stroller. I’m not a stroller-type kitty — when I was out and about, I was in a sling so my human could keep me close.

My human does not like to play favorites, but she fell in love with Sophie! (And to be honest, she was already halfway in love with her from the blog she is part of, Kitty Cat Chronicles.) Sophie has a mild-to-moderate case of cerebellar hypoplasia, but that does not stop her from going places and having lots of fun! She spent a lot of time hanging out at BlogPaws, either in a sling or on a leash, like me. In fact, we even met each other and touched noses while we were in our slings!

The Random Felines human brought some of her fosters and I got to meet Queso, but he didn’t like me! I guess he thought I was some huge, scary monster cat, even though I was perfectly nice and calm around him. Plus, I am only 7 pounds. There were other cats there too, including Coco the Couture Cat! But I only saw a little bit of her, and none of the others.

I started the next day with a healthy breakast — and bacon! My human brought it up from her own breakfast and I was so excited. It was my first time having bacon, since the humans don’t eat it, and it was delicious.

This was a big day for me because I had to help my human work the Cat Writers Association booth and help her sell copies of Rescued. I sat on the table and helped draw people in! Since we were out in the main part of the exhibition hall, there were lots of dogs wandering around (I hear there were something like 100 dogs there!), but I wasn’t bothered by them.

It was a good thing I didn’t mind the dogs because I was surrounded by them later that night when I competed in Pawject Runway! It was sponsored by Only Natural Pet and Vetriscience and three kitties (including me), one rat and a bunch of dogs had to wear costumes created by our humans in just 10 minutes!

I’m glad my human scotched this idea early on.

Although I am not so sure about what I did end up wearing! I am not sure what my human was thinking! It was the goofiest outfit ever, but you know what? I won for Best Diva, and got a $100 gift card from Only Natural Pet! I really think I won because I actually walked across the stage. If you want to see, you can go here. My human managed to find the clip with my walk because the video of the whole event is very long and not super exciting.

One of my favorite feral cat rescues, Kitty Bungalow was there with one of their cats, Kissie. She didn’t win one of the gift cards, so I donated mine to them.

But I wasn’t done! Later that night, my human and I had an after dinner party in our hotel room, with champagne! I dressed for the occasion. I want to mention that all the humans who attended were well-behaved, and no one tried to abscond with me (although there were threats).

I had a great time, but I was exhausted! We flew home the next day, leaving early because my human had been worried that I might not enjoy myself. She says that if she knew how well I would handle everything, we would have come earlier and stayed later. We are already registered for BlogPaws 2016, in Phoenix!
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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!

Airport Selfie

On the way to BlogPaws, I was at the airport watching a very special edition of Bird TV when I realized I should probably do a selfie before things got too crazy at the conference.

Not that I liked my Bird TV being interrupted… but the acting was kind of stiff anyway.

So I got ready… but something caught my attention!

Then on my second attempt, I wound up with the classic closed-eyes shot.

The third time was the charm!

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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: Blowhard Kitty

As you know, my favorite part about getting a bath (the only part I can totally say I like, in fact) is the blow dry. But some cats take their blow drying love even farther than I do! Check out this kitty — he doesn’t want his human to stop. Even better, he didn’t have to get wet.

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!

Outtakes, With Tongue

I noticed that in the past couple of weeks, there have been a number of outtakes where I seem to be giving my human the raspberry. Okay, maybe I sort of was sometimes!

My human says I look like a typical teenager here. Well, I am a teenager in cat years!

No tongues here. It was just your basic wardrobe malfunction.

I look like I’m about to hack up a hairball here because I think it should have been me on this display, and not that red Somali cat!

Just look at my face, and you already know what is going on at the bottom of this picture.

Do you think the face I made chased her away?
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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!

Nobody Told Me About This Part

Annoying car ride to the airport? Check.

Overlong flight practically to the other side of the country? Check.

Waaaay too many dogs? Check.

But nobody told me I was gonna have to do this before going to BlogPaws!

It’s my breeder’s fault. She said I should get a show bath before going to BlogPaws, even though I’m not doing a cat show. She said I should look well-groomed and at my best for the brands there. And of course, my human listened. She always does when it comes to presentation. I guess my breeder knows best, but it does not mean I have to like it.

Honestly, I don’t hate all of the bath part. Only the two shampoos and rinses. And I have to admit, while I only get them a couple of times a month, my human does her own show bath as many as three times a week! The rest of the days, she doesn’t get her hair wet, just the rest of her. I think she is crazy, and she never looks as well groomed as me.

Then after all of that comes the part I do like — the blow dry! That feels really good, and my human is careful not to snag the comb in my fur. My britches especially can get a little tangly. Incidentally, that is also my favorite part to get blow dried.

Then comes my other favorite part — I get treats! It doesn’t totally make up for having to get a bath, but it almost does.

I hope these brands appreciate what I have to go through!
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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!

Nashville Bound!

Today is my big travel day — I am headed to Nashville for the BlogPaws conference! My human has been to all but one of them, and this is the second time she is speaking. But it is the first time she is bringing along a kitty! Isn’t she lucky she gets to have me along? I am looking forward to meeting lots of people, and maybe even some kitties!

I got some business cards made up just in time for the conference!

In fact, they are double-sided! My human’s flimsy, last-minute business cards are only one-sided and printed on cheaper paper!

Plus I finally got something else that has been long overdue — a name tag with my human’s phone number on it! It’s on a clip so it can be snapped onto whichever harness I am wearing that day.

I already have posts scheduled for most days while I am at the conference, but I will also try to do a couple of posts from the conference! I will be very busy, so no guarantees, though! And if you are one of the lucky bloggers who will also be at BlogPaws, make sure to come by and shake my paw!
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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!

Boodie Toesday

Some of you tell me Boodie does not get enough space on the blog. I can’t help it if she spends so much time skulking in the background. That’s just her way. She’s shy. So when my human encountered her napping on the bed a few days ago, she quickly grabbed her iPhone to snap a few photos. As you can tell from the condition of her fur, she had been taking a bath prior to falling asleep.

And because it is Toesday, she took a photo of her toes, all neatly and conveniently bunched together. Also her tail.

My human also woke her up. Maybe Boodie is smart, staying in the background!
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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!

Best Jobs and Worst Jobs for Cats

We kitties are very lucky because for the most part, we don’t have to work if we don’t want to. But sometimes it gets boring, being catered to — the meal and litter box service and daily Bird TV can get monotonous. A job actually has many benefits for a cat — it stimulates your mind, makes your life more interesting, and creates a regular routine… and you know how we cats love routines! Jobs even pay money, and while that’s not meaningful for cats, you can trade those silly slips of paper for things like premium cat food, toys, and if you save up for it, big ticket items like cat trees and fancy cat beds. Really, there are a lot of reasons for a cat to want a job, as long as it’s the right one. That’s the key — there are good jobs for cats, and some not-so-good choices. Here is my list.

Best Jobs for Cats

Mattress Tester

This is a great job for those of you kitties who aren’t terribly active but still like something new every so often. We cats really understand comfort, and we spend as much as 16 hours a day sleeping, so a good mattress is important to us. I’m sure there are many of us out there who have already become experts at judging a good mattress, even without any formal training. Why not put that knowledge to use?

Textile Design

If you are tired of hearing your human complain every time you claw the couch; if your scratching post is worn down to the wood and then some; if every new carpet must be examined and pulled at thoroughly before you deem it acceptable, then you should look into a textile design career! When your human sees your stunning fabric creations, she will be sorry she ever yelled at you for shredding the easy chair – she had a work of art in her own home and she should have appreciated it.

Dishwasher

Yes, it is a menial job, but so much fun! And there is no shame in a job you truly enjoy. Dishwashing is something all kitties would work at if they were allowed. I’m sad that the dishes here seem to be off limits to me.

President of the United States

Yes, I am jumping from one extreme to the other, but let’s face it, we cats would do a much better job of keeping the Free World in line than any of the guys in office in the past 70 or so years. After all, don’t you keep your own human in line pretty well?

Now let’s look at jobs that we cats might not be suited for.

Worst Jobs for Cats

Race Car Driver

This only makes sense — it’s hard for a cat to control a steering wheel and switch gears at the same time. The outfit is uncomfortable, and we are not all that competitive. So no NASCAR for us.

Butler

Domestic servitude for a cat? Just no. That’s humans’ work.

Electrician

A lot of us cats are fascinated with wires and electrical cords, but electricians aren’t allowed to chew on them. Ever. Becoming an electrician may sound appealing on the surface, but in reality it’s a bummer if you are a cat.

Catnip Farmer

Stop acting shocked! Admit it… you’d keep it all for yourself and there would be no profit. But then, who cares about profit anyway? Maybe catnip farmer would work after all.

What other jobs can you think of that might be good or bad for cats?
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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 Patio Selfies

I decided to do this week’s selfies on the back patio. Let’s see how they go.

Well, this one might have turned out better if I was looking at the camera. And if it wasn’t off center.

Now this one’s out of focus. With the iPhone 6 you can lock the focus and exposure. I had to ask for my human’s help for that.

I also tried a different angle. The focus and centering could be better, but I think it will do for now!

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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!