Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 396

Valentine’s Day Announcement

How do you like my new Valentine hoodie dress? I am having a lot of fun wearing it (and getting treats for wearing it too… my human had to Photoshop the freeze dried chicken crumbs off my nose!).

But I’m not just wearing this outfit to show it off — I’m announcing my very first party, and it’s going to be a Valentine’s Day party! Except that Valentine’s Day falls on a Saturday this year, so I’m going to have it on Friday instead. Yes, that is Friday the 13th — I hope you are not superstitious. I actually think Friday the 13th is a lucky day… at least it will be if you come to my party! It will be lots of fun and I’ll have a giveaway.

And of course there will be a tasty and romantic spread!

Maybe I will give out free hugs too! But no funny stuff — I’m not even 11 months old yet!

You are going to come, right? Let me know if you are in!
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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!

Tax Preparation, Then and Now

I mention Sparkle’s notes sometimes — she left quite a few for me before she left and I came here. And there was quite a bit about something called “taxes.” According to Sparkle, “Once a year, the human does this thing called ‘tax preparation,’ in which she pulls out an accordion folder of papers, a ledger and a calculator and spends several days messing around with them. You will be expected to help her with all of this.” I’m so glad she left some photos to illustrate. In the one above, she was just about seven months old, even younger than me!*

She also said, “Since about 2009, the human has had one version or another of something called QuickBooks. Every year since then she has said that next year, she will do all her work on that, which means all the paper part of the work won’t be required anymore. So far, this has not happened. Maybe by the time 2015 rolls around she will have figured it out.”

Well, it is 2015 and guess what? Apparently my human does not have this Quickbooks thing figured out yet! I bet a lot of you humans are looking at this and thinking, “What decade is this anyhow?” But it’s not totally her fault. She did get some QuickBooks coaching a few weeks ago, but then she got sick and didn’t have time to finish getting it together. So she is stuck doing it the old way. She says she will for sure have everything on QuickBooks for next year. Isn’t that funny? Sparkle even knew she would say that!

We are almost done with this tax preparation thing, which is good, considering my human’s appointment is tomorrow (unlike normal humans, she has to get her business stuff done a month early, so she is getting everything ready now). I helped a lot! I made her laugh by rolling over and grabbing her arm like it was a toy! Even better, it was a surprise attack. So I kept things fun and lively.

It was a lot of work, though. I started to lose it, as you can see here.

In the middle of all this, she dropped her iPhone 4s and the glass broke. She didn’t seem too upset because she said she was planning on getting the iPhone 6+ anyhow, and it would be a tax deduction for next year… when she is using QuickBooks.

*This image of Sparkle is available on Zazzle on a card and on a mug!
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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: Best Kitty Playhouse Ever

When you kitties, and many of you humans, see this amazing feline-centric home, you will be dying to move in, guaranteed! It came about after home builder Peter Cohen moved in. The house came with a couple of outdoor cats, but one was hit by a car and died. Then the second cat was injured by another car, and Peter decided to make her an indoor cat permanently. He adopted a kitty pal for her… but wondered what he could do to make their lives indoors more interesting. So he got down to work… and adopted some more cats, and worked some more on the house… and adopted more cats… and the result is an amazing array of colorful corridors, stairs, walkways and throughways! It looks like something from a Dr. Seuss book, or Pee Wee Herman’s Playhouse! Peter, the other two guys who live there, and the 15 resident cats have been getting a lot of publicity of late, but even if you’ve already seen this video, you will probably want to look at it again — and maybe get a few home remodeling ideas!

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: Weird, Wild and Stylish

I have some really fascinating feline news items for you in today’s Caturday Report… along with something a little bit disturbing.

You’ll see what I mean in just a moment.

Many of you probably know about the incredible story of Bart, the cat who was presumed dead and buried, and who then clawed his way out from the grave. But apparently things aren’t as they appear: the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, who has been caring for Bart’s very serious injuries now says they will not return Bart to his former home, sensing that it was not a good situation for him. To keep up with Bart’s story, check out the updates on his page at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay’s website.
On a much lighter note (and I think we need one after Bart’s sad story), check out these fashion shoots of people and their cats wearing matching outfits! I hope this does not give my human any ideas… I’m not fond of her taste in clothes.
There are many wild cats in Africa, but none so mysterious as the African golden cat. Researchers are only just now beginning to learn more about them, and you can find out what they know so far, and see photos here.
Want more wild cats? The Tiniest Tiger has an awesome story about Zolushka, the Amur tiger cub who, now grown, may help stabilize the small Amur tiger population. By the way, Zolushka is Russian for Cinderella.
Lastly, I hope if you humans get the flu, you don’t go around kissing your cats — veterinarian Letrisa M. Miller explains in this guest post for Cat Wisdom 101 that your kitties are not immune to your flu bug!

While my life hasn’t been as traumatic as Bart’s or as exciting as these wild cats, it’s still been pretty interesting!

Last week, I introduced you to six of the cats from the new anthology, Rescued, and this week, I introduced the remaining six! You will love all of them (and may even know a couple)!
I competed in the San Diego Cat Show last weekend, and it was quite an exciting experience! Read about all the fun here.
At the cat show, I was benched next to a very, very special kitty! Find out why this cool kitten is such a standout!
The second installment of my ongoing series, “Human Things… and Their Feline Equivalent,” looks at how humans mark territory. It’s a way different method than what kitties do!
I ended the week on a fun photo note by featuring photos that, for one reason or another, did not make it onto the blog.

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!

What You Missed

My human has a bad habit of taking photos of me, and sometimes Binga and Boodie — and then having no idea what to do with the photos. They aren’t good enough to put on cards or mugs in the Zazzle shop, they don’t tell a story, and they didn’t make it to the outtakes, so they’ve just been sitting there in the January 2015 folder on her laptop. But why let them go to waste? I figured I would share some of them with you today. Like the photo above — I have no idea what I was thinking! Neither my human nor I could come up with an appropriate caption. Maybe you can.

My human did a whole photo session of me wearing this dress — and then couldn’t figure out what to do with the pictures! I mean, it’s a nice enough dress but it’s not so special that it deserved a whole blog post.

That same day, she photographed me in this vest harness that I’ll probably never wear out because it’s totally not secure. Looks nice, though!

This photo session went on long enough so that it got bombed, even though my human wasn’t holding treats.

Here’s another “I don’t know what I was looking at” photo. Whatever it was, I did not approve!

Boodie was sitting so nicely in this box that my human had to get some photos. But why? There’s really nothing to say about it, and no kitty made her leave. Like Boodie herself, this picture’s just been sitting quietly, not bothering anyone.

I really look like I’m trying to eat that toy in this photo, don’t I?

And this box looks like it is trying to eat me!

There are more photos where these came from… but I think you’ve had enough!
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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!

Human Things… and Their Feline Equivalent: Territorial Marking

Once again, I’m exploring the strange things humans do, and pointing out their feline equivalent to help us kitties better understand these behaviors! Today I look at territorial marking — or what humans call “property ownership.”

We cats are pretty straightforward and uncomplicated about marking our territory — if it can be rubbed against, scratched or peed on, it’s ours. Humans, on the other hand, turn it into a big production number. Let me explain some of the ways humans mark territory:

With a big stack of papers full of writing that nobody understands that gets signed and put away and never looked at again. These are called contracts. If the territorial marking is temporary (i.e., “renting”), the stack of paper is much smaller. If the territorial marking is for a longer period of time (“purchase”), it involves lots of paperwork, inspections and something called “escrow.”
An interesting thing about the purchase version of territorial marking — the territory usually doesn’t totally belong to the humans who signed the contract. It actually belongs to something known as a bank, which is a big building with money. The humans living in the house have to keep feeding money to this building, or else the building will make them leave.
Humans also mark territory by building fences. Some fences are made of wood, others are made of metal, and still others are made out of stone. These fences are usually pretty good at keeping other humans out, but they are lousy at keeping out other cats.
Humans mark their cars with a little slip of paper with their name printed on it. They hide this paper somewhere inside the car and just assume that other humans know it is there. Some humans also mark their cars by leaving discarded cups and paper bags lying around inside the car, or sometimes a little statue.
Humans don’t have glands to leave scent, and their fingernails are too weak to scratch well, and for some weird reason, they have an issue with peeing on the things that belong to them. So they will often mark their smaller items by writing their names on them. Sometimes, like with suitcases, they will write their names on tags that attach to the item. Humans believe that doing this will keep other humans from taking these items.
The weirdest thing of all is that humans often have their things lying all over the place with no markings whatsoever and just trust that no one will claim them as theirs. Even weirder, it often works! Most humans don’t take other humans’ things. They may not know who it belongs to because they can’t ID it by smell, but they do know it does not belong to them, so they will just leave it be. Which makes you wonder at all the paperwork and escrow stuff that goes with marking land and houses.

We cats definitely have an easier time with territorial marking than humans do! How about your humans — are there any quirky things they do to mark their territory?
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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 Ruby That Sparkles

If my breeder has a cat at the same cat show where I’m competing, she and my human bench next to each other. At first she wasn’t going to be at the San Diego Cat Show this year, because Sunday night she was delivering a kitten to the airport, where she was going to be hand carried to a Brazilian breeder. But then she changed her mind and decided to show the kitten before her journey — this 6-month-old girl has a big career ahead of her as a show cat down there and will be part of a breeding program. My breeder wanted her to spend the weekend getting used to the crazy cat show atmosphere because it was only going to get more hectic once she got to the airport! So here she is — her name is Ruby and I thought you might want to meet her for a very special reason: see the cat on the magazine cover behind her? That is her grandfather, Miles Davis. And those of you who have been following this blog for a long time know that Miles Davis was Sparkle’s father… so Ruby is Sparkle’s niece!

Unlike Sparkle and I, Ruby is a red Somali. It’s hard to tell under the ugly showhall lighting, but she is actually a really rich, red color! Sometimes ruddy-colored Somalis look a little reddish — Sparkle did — but if you see a ruddy and a red next to each other, it’s obvious which is which! Plus we ruddy Somalis have black paw tufts and deeply hued paw pads. The red Somalis have dark red paw tufts and cute pink paw pads!

Of course, since Ruby is still a kitten, she is a little bit goofy! Oh, you see the handsome cat in the photos behind her? That’s her dad, Aslan… who is also my dad! So we are half sisters (Miles is her grandfather on her mother’s side).

To be honest, my breeder was not expecting Ruby to do much at the show. We Somali cats develop slowly, and we usually don’t look all that impressive as kittens. Plus on a red, it’s hard to see the ticking — the bands of color that are distinctive of our breed and it makes it harder for judges. Ruby’s fur is in the middle of changing from kitten-y fluff to a more adult coat too, so she had a lot that wasn’t in her favor — not to mention that there were kittens from all over the U.S. at this show! But she had lots of fun on the judging tables… and she did manage to final in one ring!

She got 15th Best Kitten in this ring, so she just barely got in, but she was very happy to be up there! I love the American Shorthair girl behind her, cheering her on. That kitten got the 12th Best ribbon.

My human was proud of Ruby too, because she spent the weekend helping my breeder and running her around to rings. It was good practice for Ruby, who had to say good-bye to our breeder that evening and meet more new humans, including her very own new human in Brazil. I hear she is already settled in her new home and enjoying it there — and there is already a boyfriend lined up for her when she grows up some more! I have to confess, I may be a little bit jealous: she gets a handsome ruddy boyfriend… and I got Binga!

Boa sorte, Ruby! I know you will have an amazing life!
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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 Grand Old Time

I had a big weekend — I competed at the San Diego Cat Show! It is a huge show and cats come from all over the country to be in it! It is one of the events of the year if you’re a show kitty. My human and I are lucky — it is less than a two-hour drive to get to the show hall and the hotel from where we live. The hotel was pretty nice — I found out when my human was still bringing stuff in the room from the car and I decided to brush past her legs and go trotting down the hallway! That was fun until she caught me. She tried to keep me entertained in the room with toys, hoping I’d forget about going out the room’s door.

I was a little nervous about this show. With so many top cats coming down, I knew the competition was going to be really tough. Even though I was only 10 points away from being a Grand Premier (which is a cool accomplishment for a show cat to have), I was not sure if I was going to make it. No other Somalis showed up in the Premier class, so the only way I could earn points was by getting finals, and you should have seen some of those amazing cats!

But there was a lot more to see too, in addition to the show cats…

Like this fantastic cat tree! I really wanted it, but my human said there was no way to get it back home.

No, this is not my human’s car… although I could totally imagine her getting this paint job. I think would have to get a new boyfriend if she did, though.

In addition to the show kitties, there was a celebrity kitty in attendance — Racy Mooner! She came all the way from back east to be here! Her human always has a booth with Sturdi products, including the walking vest she helped design.

There was also a woman who makes awesome pet bowls, including this ingenious beehive water bowl that is supposed to be “never spill.” My human has been waiting for this person to show up at a cat show we were attending so she could get one, and she did! And guess what? I figured out how to tip it over! It’s my human’s fault — she put it in my bed in my Sturdi enclosure, and when I decided to have a tantrum because I wanted out, I flipped a corner of the bed — and the bowl — over! After that, she said I had to come out of the enclosure to drink out of it. Which is kind of what I wanted anyhow.

These cat shows aren’t just about show cats, by the way! Most of the time they have rescue cats available for adoption, and this big show had lots of them! Recognize the kitty in the photo? My friend Cathy Keisha claims it is her “long-lost sister, LaTasha,” but I wonder if she’s the one that has been doing some modeling on the side.

Anyhow, you are probably wondering how I did… and I surprised myself! The cats who are already Grand Premiers usually get preference in judging, but in my very first ring, the judge really liked me and finaled me! And then I finaled in another ring, which is the one you see above. The very first day, I finaled in three out of four rings! Because I am still new and the other cats were gorgeous, I scored more towards the lower end of the finaled cats, but it was still way more than enough to give me Grand status!

The cool thing about granding on the first day of a two-day cat show is that your human fills out some simple paperwork and you get to compete as a Grand the next day! So that is what my human did — my breeder was there, and she showed her how to do it.

I finaled in two more rings the next day, so it was a great weekend for me! My human was just hoping to Grand me, but I did that and then some!

It was an exhausting weekend, though! I confess, during the last ring, when I was in the cage waiting to be judged, I actually curled up and took a nap! (I did not final in that one.) I couldn’t wait to get back to my Sturdi enclosure and chill out for a bit before going back to the hotel.

But what’s even better than getting lots of ribbons and being a Grand Premier? Getting a brand new Sturdi walking vest from Racy Mooner’s human! My human bought it for me as a gift.

After we got back to the hotel and rested up for a bit, my human snapped the vest on me and we did what I’d been wanting to do the whole weekend — wander up and down the hotel corridors! I even got to go up a flight of stairs and come down in the elevator (my human held me for the elevator part). That was my favorite part of our trip!

Stay tuned — you get to meet someone tomorrow from the cat show who I think you will like a lot!
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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 Rescued Cats and Their Causes, Part 2

Here I am, reporting from the San Diego Cat Show! I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, but right now, I’m sure you want to hear about the rest of the cats who have stories in Rescued, and the rescues they are supporting! If you recall from Friday’s post, there are 12 rescues, one for each author, and each author was assigned a month to promote the book, with a third of the profits from that month going to the rescue. On Friday, you met the cats from February through July, 2015. Now here are the rest.

Tuffy’s month is August 2015, and he is supporting Friends of Feral Cheshire Cats. Tuffy, like so many cats, was callously discarded by his former humans. Fortunately, he discovered a new home, with humans that were willing to accept him on his own terms (well, sort of). Now he is the muse for a series of cozy mysteries. Tuffy has his own Facebook page.

Michael’s month is September 2015 and he is supporting Stark County Humane Society. Michael had quite a life — He traveled from Florida to Mississippi to Ohio to Mississippi and then back to Ohio. Michael lived for 19 years and had more than the usual nine lives.

Magoo’s month is October 2015 and he is supporting Valley Cats Cat & Kitten Rescue. Magoo may not be a big cat but he has a big attitude! This swaggering guy was found on the streets and his larger-than-life personality inspired his human to become an amazing cat rescuer. Thousands of cats he will never meet (and a few foster FAILs) have Magoo to thank for their lives. Magoo has his own Facebook page, plus a blog he is working on (he’d kill me if I neglected to mention this).

Gemini’s month is November 2015 and she is supporting Purrfect Pals. Maybe you recognize Gemini — she’s the quieter sister of Chey of the blog The Cat Post Intelligencer. But don’t let her sweet face and good looks fool you. She has always known her own mind, from the time she was a tiny kitten, lost in the rain. She was looking for her mother, not a human and she was quite firm about that. Of course, just because she knew her own mind, it didn’t mean she always got her way.

Rascal’s month is January 2016 and he’s supporting Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter. You may know Rascal and his brother Rocco from their blog. But you may not know where they came from. Twice they had nice lives with senior humans, and twice they lost their humans to elder care facilities! What a traumatic experience for them, and there they were, stuck in a cage once again, hoping that they would be chosen instead of some younger, cuter kitties. It’s the kind of story that is repeated in shelters every day.

Harriet’s month is February 2016 and she is supporting PAWSitively CATS No-Kill Shelter (which also happens to be her home). This sweet-faced girl was permanently disabled when she was protecting her kittens from a dog. This story could have had a bad end, but she wound up in the right hands. She was able to raise her kittens and happily watch them find new homes, and now she is the sweetheart of the shelter she is supporting. This giving girl not only tells her own story, but shares a little bit about some of the other cats she calls friends. I’m sure you’ll love her as much as I do!

Those are the cats of Rescued. Maybe you are wondering what happened to December 2015? It was left out on purpose! My human knows from her experience in the world of publishing that December is a huge month for book sales and that any cat given that month would give their rescue an unfair advantage, so she held it back and is using it as an extra-added incentive to the authors. The author who sells the biggest number of books in their own month will also see December’s donation portion go to their rescue. So she was not kidding when she said that this book’s promotion is a year long!

If there is a cat whose story really speaks to you, or you think highly of their rescue, I do encourage you to share the book with those you know during their month. Or if there are several, you can keep sharing because you know people don’t always buy something the first time they hear about it. If you are a blogger, you can write about these cats or the humans who helped them write their stories — not all, but many have agreed to interviews. And you can support them now by giving something to Rescued’s Pubslush crowdfunding campaign. It is still less than halfway to its goal, and the more money it brings in, the more expenses get paid and the sooner the writers and the rescues will see money! There aren’t just book-buying options. There are also art and graphic options, and you can even have a short story or chapter edited by my human! Even the smallest reward levels help.

I will be doing my part — expect to see each author profiled here during their month — and I will write a little bit about their shelter too!
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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: Blind Cat Hiking

Sometimes you look at the term “special needs,” and you just want to tear away the “needs” part. Honey Bee is special, period. A rescue from the island of Fiji, she now lives with her family in Seattle. Although Honey Bee is blind, it does not stop her from joining her humans on hikes in nature, as this video shows. She may not see the beauty around her, but she can smell it and hear it… and appreciate it just as much as a sighted creature. Watch this video and see for yourself.

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

You can follow Honey Bee on Facebook!
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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!