Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 387

Sunday Catinee: Kitten Derby

Did you see yesterday’s Kentucky Derby? If you didn’t, don’t worry, I have something even better for you: the CATucky Derby, starring 8 impossibly cute kittens. Which one would you have bet on?

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

TVG, by the way, is a horseracing network… which only proves that even horseracing fans admit kitten races are better!
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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!

The Caturday Report: Kitty Health Edition

I didn’t plan it this way, but most of the stories I found for this week’s Caturday Report involve feline health in one form or another.

Even this week’s posts from my blogging pals are about cat health — so let’s get started!

Do you know that some cats, especially older ones, have a syndrome where high pitched noises can give them seizures? This story from the Discovery Channel looks at what is called the Tom and Jerry Syndrome.
Does it seem to you like more cats are getting hyperthyroidism than in the past? Could it be because of the flame retardant chemicals found on many household items these days? This story looks at that possibility.
This story in the Smithsonian wonders if we cats are really domesticated. We already know the answer to that one, don’t we?
Many cats develop arthritis as they get older. What are the signs? This post from The Conscious Cat tells you what to look for.
Humans are always worried about catching bugs — and I don’t mean fun, crawly bugs. I’m referring to the bugs that make them ill. Can we kitties make them sick? The Pawesome Cats blog looks at illnesses that humans can catch from us cats. (I know I use Pawesome Cats and the Conscious Cat a lot… but what can I say? They have really informative blog posts!)

It has been quite a week around here! I’ve been busy and so has my human! But I’m sure you don’t want to hear about her boring life, so my blog posts this week were only about kitty business.

I started off the week with a review and giveaway for the new book, The Good, the Bad, and the Furry by Tom Cox. There is still time to enter to win one of five books available!
I competed in a cat show over the weekend, and I revealed how I keep my energy up while I’m going from judging ring to judging ring all day.
I also revealed how I did — and explained what a Supreme cake is.
Here’s a Throwback Thursday you’ll want to look at — it’s Sparkle, from April, 2011!
Remember those pro photos I had taken a while back? Well, it turns out I need different pictures! My human and I had to scramble to put something together (in fact, we are still working on it… and I may have to have a bath!).

If you see a good cat-oriented news item around the internet, send me a link and I may include it next 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!

My Non-Pro Photo Shoot

When the email request came in for photos for the CFA Southwest Awards, to my human’s (and my) dismay, they requested 4×6 horizontally oriented photos… and we don’t have any! The ones we liked from the pro photo shoot were oriented vertically, and no amount of Photoshop was going to make them into the format requested (although my human tried). Since there is no other option right now, my human is having to come up with something on her own. She set up a background and lights in the living room. She even had a stand in for me while she was adjusting the lighting.

The only problem was, I did not want to cooperate! I thought it would be more fun to run around and have my human chase me up and down the stairs about five or six times instead of letting her groom me. I actually had a good time, even if she didn’t. Finally, when I realized she would give me treats for staying still, I calmed down and let her mess with me and put me on the set.

Well, I mostly cooperated, but my tail wouldn’t. It kept disappearing. Or waving around and looking blurry. My human kept fooling around with my tail and pulling it into the shot… and it kept leaving! Honest, it wasn’t my fault. Kitty tails have minds of their own.

Then, when I started posing better, there was another problem — the photos kept coming out slightly out of focus! Probably because my human was trying to do so many things at once, fixing my fur, fiddling with my tail and moving around. The photos looked okay in the camera, but once she got them on the computer, they were just fuzzy enough to make her crazy.

And then something even more problematic happened — she ran out of space on the photo card! She kept deleting the bad photos at the end to make space to try more photos because she was desperate. Finally she gave up for the night and will have to run out to get a new photo card tomorrow morning. So I guess I am not done yet!
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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!

#ThrowbackThursday – What Was Sparkle Doing in 2011?

My human has had a very long week — 12–14 hour days every day! In fact, she has had to do some of her work on her own because I needed my beauty rest and couldn’t supervise! So to give her a break, I thought I’d look back to April, 2011, and see what Sparkle was doing.

She was mad at my human’s boyfriend because he brought home some crab from Maryland… only it was a plastic crab.

In fact, he is lucky she didn’t take out her ire on his guitar!

She wasn’t happy with my human either because she brought home cheap Easter toys from CVS instead of buying cat toys.

She was supervising the creation of the Kindle version of her book, and making sure it came out right! It was a real learning experience for my human, but Sparkle kept her on track.

And of course, looking disgruntled and beautiful at the same time, as only she could. I don’t think I’ll ever master that look.
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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!

Shows and Supreme Cakes (Not Mine)

The cat show I was at this past weekend was the very last of the season. It has been a crazy few months for me because I am registered in two different organizations, the Cat Fanciers Association (CFA) and The International Cat Association (TICA), and I’ve been showing in both! This show in particular was very important for me, and I will tell you why at the end of this post.

I did make finals in this show, and here I am in one of the final rings. The big guy on the left is a Maine Coon and the boy on the right is an Exotic Shorthair. One thing you need to know about this pair — they are a couple of the top cats in TICA in my region! In fact, when they update the scores with the points from this weekend, they may even be the top two. Both my human and the Maine Coon’s people thought it was hilarious to see the two of us next to each other and they were all snapping photos.

The special thing about this weekend’s cat show was all the Supreme cakes. The title of Supreme Grand Champion or Supreme Grand Alter (I’m an Alter) is a very high title and very difficult to get! If you are a good cat who measures well up against the breed standard and lands enough finals, you get to be a Grand. If you keep showing and earning more points and getting more finals, you become a Double, then a Triple, then a Quadruple Grand. You need even more points to get to the level of Supreme — and you need to be Best Cat in a final after you have become a Quadruple Grand.

A lot of times when a cat makes Supreme, they have cake for all the humans. Can you believe five cats got Supreme cakes that weekend? My human was on sugar overload because she can’t turn down cake! This one had whipped cream frosting, and I really wanted a taste.

I will tell you something about me you don’t know yet: I am already a Quadruple Grand! But I am not a Supreme yet because I haven’t finaled as a Best Alter since I got my Quad points. And you know why? ’Cause it’s hard! I mean, I finaled several times this weekend and had really good placements, but I was competing against all these top cats! I was Second Best to that Exotic Shorthair cat several times. He’s, like, perfect, so no wonder the judges kept giving him Bests. He was probably getting Best Alter in rings where I was not even one of the finalists.

So there was no Supreme cake for me this show, and my human wasn’t sharing hers. The points carry into next season for this title, so I still have a chance, but it is going to be even tougher because I will also be competing against two very handsome Somali boycats! You met one last weekend, BJ. The other one is just out of kitten class and he looks like he’s fun and lively! I think you will like him. My human does!

There were 10 judging rings this weekend, and I finaled in six! It was a really good show for me — all the placements were second or third out of five cats finaling. I have done really well this season, especially considering that I have been competing in the adult Alter class for only half of it! In fact, in CFA, I am one of the Top 25 Premier (alter) cats in the Southwest region, and one of the Top Five Somali Premiers! TICA has Top 20 regionally, and coming into this month’s shows, I was right on the edge of making it. I am crossing my paws that the points I got are enough to make me a TICA regional winner too! Now I can tell you that’s why I needed those professional shots — for the awards!
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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!

#WaysToWOW… at Home and at the Cat Show

I have to say, my whole life is pretty Wow! I mean, how many kitties get to have their own castle?

Of course, I don’t always need something fancy to have fun in.

But what really brings the Wow into my life is doing cat shows. I love them! The hotel rooms, meeting the judges (sometimes I head butt them), and the ribbons when I happen to final — it’s not the kind of life every kitty would want, but I thrive on all of it.

I did a cat show this past weekend and my human brought me an awesome treat! On regular days at home, I get breakfast and dinner. When I’m at a cat show, it’s between my two meals, but I get really hungry. It takes a lot of energy looking good in those rings — it’s like being an entertainer! My human almost never feeds me dry food, and she hates opening a whole can at a cat show, so she was really happy to bring along some pouches of Fancy Feast Broths. They are just right for a snack between the judging rings.

My human likes the new Broths with Chicken because:

They contain real, recognizable ingredients (as you can see).
The ready-to-pour pouches are so convenient. She just tucked them into my grooming kit and brought them. And she didn’t even need any utensils — she just tore it open and poured
I love chicken, so the new chicken flavors really delighted me.

As for me, I love the new Broths with Chicken because they taste good! I think they are going to be a staple at my cat shows from now on… a little lunchtime ritual I can share with my human.

Naturally Fancy Feast Broths with Chicken aren’t just for kitties on the go like me! Binga enjoys them too. She always appreciates something special (well, actually she kind of demands it). And as an older cat, her body doesn’t metabolize food as well as it used to. Sometimes my human likes giving her something extra in addition to her meals, and the treats her boyfriend gives her. So she gets the Broths with Chicken as a bonus.

Don’t worry — Boodie got some tastes too.

Fancy Feast Broths with Chicken comes in four flavors, two with a classic, silky broth and two with a rich, creamy broth! If you want to give them a try, you can get a pouch for free! Visit the Wow Served Daily site and request your own pouch… but hurry, the offer is only good while supplies last!

You can also find out more about Fancy Feast Broths at their Facebook page, their Twitter, and their Pinterest account.

Disclosure: This post was brought to you by the makers of Fancy Feast. I received compensation to write this post through the Fancy Feast Broths with Chicken program. All opinions expressed are my own.
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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!

The Good, the Bad, and the Furry – Review and Giveaway

If you live in the U.S., you may only be a little familiar with Tom Cox’s awesome books about his cats: Janet, Ralph, Shipley and The Bear. If you’re from the U.K., however, Tom and his cats are hugely popular!

Hm, I didn’t ask for assistance with this review.

Anyhow, The Good, the Bad, and the Furry is the third of Tom’s books about his cats. He also writes about music, golf, and for lots of magazines and papers. But that part isn’t important. What you need to know is his two prior cat books, Under the Paw and Talk to the Tail are hilarious in that charmingly quirky, British way, and The Good, the Bad, and the Furry follows right in line with them!

In this newest book, Tom is going through a breakup and early on, he loses his cat Janet who, in spite of his name, is a guy cat. This leaves him with Ralph, the cat who says his own name; Shipley, who only becomes agreeable when you hold him upside down; and of course, The Bear, a wise and knowing panther who takes life way too seriously. With cats like these, how can a book not be fun, even through some sadness? I couldn’t put it down!

In addition to Tom’s cats, we meet his parents (his dad talks in ALL CAPS and refuses any belief in free will), Tom’s nice new girlfriend Gemma, and a variety of friends and random characters. And stray orange cats that just happen to wander into his home and look enough alike to be confusing. Plus a new tuxedo kitten with a batman face joins the family along the way. Every so often there’s a pause in the anecdotes and narrative for chapters such as “Some Anonymous Cats I have Psychoanalysed on My Travels (2010–2012)” and “Advice for New Kitten Owners” (hint: it’s not care and feeding tips).

If you are looking for a lighthearted read that’s mostly (but not completely) about cats, you will want to read The Good, the Bad, and the Furry — and guess what? I have five copies to give away! To enter, just comment on this blog post and say you did on the Rafflecopter widget below! There are other things you can do to get more entries after that. I really want you to have this book!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway ends Monday, May 4, at midnight, and is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada. If you are one of my international readers, you can enter and name someone in the U.S. or Canada to receive the book — and maybe they will send it to you when they are done!

Note: I received a galley copy of the book for review. Links are Amazon Associate links — I get a small commission when you click through and buy a copy. And of course, you’d want that, right?
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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!

Sunday Catinee: Fooled by Faux Felines

I almost didn’t share today’s Catinee video because many of the clips in this compilation aren’t the greatest quality — but it was too funny not to share! You’d think even a kitten would know the difference between a real cat and a statue… but maybe not! I wonder what they would do if they were confronted by Mirror Kitty.

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!

The Caturday Report: From Serious to Frivolous

I hope you don’t mind that I am reporting from the Master Bathroom today! But it has been dark and overcast the past couple of days, and this was the only room with halfway decent light.

This week’s Caturday Report contains a variety of topics, both silly and serious, plus awesome posts from a couple of my blogging pals, like always!

Researchers are urging veterinary schools to adopt a more efficient form of spaying kitties! Right now, many are doing it oldschool. Here’s why the newer way is better.
Want to play with shelter kitties, but you’re stuck in front of computer? You still can with the iPet Companion. Mashable describes it as “like OKCupid but with cats.” I say, it’s better than OKCupid!
That bastion of hard news, MTV, looks a new mini documentary… of Taylor Swift filming her cat Olivia sitting on her hind legs!
Have you kitties considered a raw food diet? Christy Paws shows you how to make it in this awesomely detailed post!
If you run across a stray cat, do you know you might be able to get it scanned for a microchip for free? The Sometimes Cats Herd You blog tells you where you can ask.

I’ve had quite a week! Check it out:

I competed in a cat show this past weekend… but I’m more interested in showing you the cool hotel room I stayed in!
When my human needed some photos of us kitties for a story she was writing, she did not count on an uncooperative tortie messing things up.
I got serious for my Earth Day post.
Then I got a whole lot less serious for a post full of fun outtakes… and a few good takes!
We ended the week with Boodie getting Furminated for Hairball Awareness Day — and I offered some deshedding tips for you humans.

If you see a good cat-oriented news item around the internet, send me a link and I may include it next 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!

Furminatin’ Boodie Friday

Boodie has been long overdue for a deshedding session. But my human had to wait because the enclosed patio, where the process happens (to keep the house from being buried in fur), has been occupied by the elderly dog who lives here. My human’s boyfriend went out of town for some shows, and he boarded the dog because at this point she needs more care than my human can handle. This left the enclosed patio free to pull out the Furminator and get Boodie done.

My human also brought me out to keep Boodie company — I get a serious show groom twice a month (three times this month!), so I don’t need deshedding. The reason why my human needs the whole enclosed patio to Furminate Boodie is because she won’t stay still. My human has to follow her around and get in a few swipes. When she stops to clean the fur out, Boodie is already somewhere else.

I didn’t think it would be that interesting to watch my human follow Boodie around, so instead I jumped on the dog house and looked at the neighbors’ yards through the big picture windows. As you can see, we’re in a drought here in California and some people have stopped watering their yards.

Eventually my human finished up, and look at all the fur she got off of Boodie! Those were a few hairballs just waiting to happen — that won’t now.

I was pretty amazed by all that fur. Maybe I should have watched it all go down after all.

I mean, seriously, that pile of fur is bigger than I am!

And that wasn’t even all of it — there were tufts all over the enclosed patio, wafting around like white tumbleweeds. I hope none of them stuck to me or Boodie when my human let us back inside!

A few tips on using the Furminator, or other deshedding tool:

Use it sparingly. You do want to remove loose undercoat, but you don’t want to get rid of all of the undercoat — it’s there for a reason. Plus, if you use it too much, you can break or damage the overcoat and even give your cat’s skin a rash. Boodie only gets Furminated a couple of times a year. You can use it more frequently than that, but it’s not an every day grooming tool.
Between deshedding sessions, use a coat-appropriate comb or brush. For a longhaired cat like Boodie, a wide toothed and finer-toothed comb work great at getting rid of loose fur and making her look nice. A shorter-haired cat like Binga does better with a brush. Some cats like slicker brushes — they do feel nice, but be careful — those sharp tines can hurt if you prick the skin with them.
Never, ever Furminate a fluffy tail. You can permanently ruin the fullness of that beautiful tail. Use a wide-toothed comb instead, if you want to groom it — and be gentle.
If you want a serious deshedding, take your cat to a groomer who is experienced with felines. A professional deshedding experience involves shampoo, conditioner, and up to two hours of careful deshedding work. If you really want something thorough, leave it to an expert.

Got it? Good! Happy deshedding!
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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!