Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 410

Almost Show Time!

I’m going to be competing in a cat show this weekend in Arcadia, not too far from where I live! I am quite excited — it’s my first cat show since I came to live with my human. But we needed to get me one thing in particular to get ready for the show. It arrived a couple of weeks ago.

It’s my show “cage!” Actually, it’s not a cage at all, but a Sturdi Car-Go Pop-Up Pet Shelter. I got a double so I can lounge in one half and have the litter box in the other half. And it’s purple!

My human had to open it up so I could check it out.

My breeder gifted me with a nice cat bed to go in the lounging half. I love it!

Isn’t this awesome? I am a very lucky kitty! If you are in the area this weekend, please come down to the cat show and say hello!

You are a little too early!
* * *

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!

Remember Them Today, and Always #lightforpets

Today is a very important day — Remember Me Thursday is the annual day in which we all remember those pets who wound up in open admission (i.e., “kill”) shelters, and who did not make it out alive. Through no fault of their own, they were abandoned in these places and left this world homeless, alone and unloved.

Even though Sparkle was a breed cat, and I am too, she felt it was very important to promote open shelter adoptions. In fact, she often preferred promoting adoptions from these shelters over rescues. With rescues, she explained, the cats had already been saved from being euthanized. When you adopt from an open admission shelter, you are literally saving a life. Maybe even two actually, because it means some other kitty gets an extra day to find a home. And don’t think us fancy cats are immune to winding up at these places. It happens all the time.

Binga came from an L.A. animal control shelter as a kitten in 2000. Maybe that’s why she has a chip on her shoulder. She is okay, really. Even though she whaps me sometimes, it is never with her claws out and it’s more like a tap than a whap.

On Remember Me Thursday, you are invited to light a virtual candle to remember those pets who died in shelters. I did and I will show you how to do it.

First you go to the Remember Me Thursday website and click on the Light a Candle link in the menu bar. Choose a candle image and fill in some basic information.

Next you fill in who the candle is for (it doesn’t have to be a specific pet, although it can; I chose “Homeless kitties in kill shelters everywhere”). Then add some information about why you are lighting the candle. I kept it simple and just said a few words about how you are literally saving a life when you adopt from an open admission shelter. You can also add a photo of a pet if you like.

When you are done, your candle will show up on the Remember Me Thursday gallery.

It only takes a few minutes, so please do it! It will help you think about all the homeless pets who wind up in shelters, and maybe someday you will be able to help one of them.

If you would like to see Sparkle’s post about this day last year, click here.
* * *

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!

Testing… Testing!

Although my harness is cute and fashion-forward, I did manage to weasel out of it once at the LA Feline Film Festival. I was grabbed the moment I slipped out of it, so I was never in danger, but my human thinks that once I know how to get out of it, I will do it again. So she says that while this is okay for wearing during indoor visits, if I am going to go outside, I need something more secure. She is shopping around right now, but while she is searching for a new harness, she wanted me to get used to wearing something larger and more form-fitting. Here is what she came up with to get me used to a more restrictive harness.

My human picked up this dress a long time ago, thinking that maybe she could coax Sparkle into wearing it. She never got around to it, so here I am wearing it now.

What are you looking at?

Anyhow, my human wanted me to show off the back of this dress with its skull rhinestone detail. I don’t think my new harness will have any bling on it, but it will probably be about the same size as what I am wearing right now.

Here is another pose. I think Boodie is considering herself lucky she does not have to wear this.

But the whole point of my having this dress on isn’t to sit around and look pretty. I am supposed to get used to moving around in it. So my human pulled out my new favorite toy, a Neko Flies Kattipede! Like the dress, this is a hand-me-down, but I don’t mind — it still works!

See? I can move pretty well with this thing on! I was leaping after the Kattipede and everything!

When I get my real harness, my human will do the same thing to get me used to it. If it means more playtime, I’m totally down with that!
* * *

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!

I Went to the L.A. Feline Film Festival!

I had a real adventure this weekend — I got to go to the Los Angeles Feline Film Festival at Exposition Park with my human! It was my first time ever exploring the outdoors on my leash. Originally my human had planned to mostly keep me in my I-GO2 carrier, but I wanted out almost right away!

It was all my human could do to keep up with me!

I didn’t climb this tree… but I wanted to!

I also got to meet lots of people. I was not so sure about the outfits these people were wearing, but since they were part of the Pussy and Pooch booth, I agreed to pose with them. Pussy and Pooch is one of my human’s favorite boutique pet stores, and she says that one of these days she is going to take me to their downtown store for a visit! These people were nice enough… but I hope they aren’t there when I go. Or at least they are wearing regular human clothes if they are!

I also got to meet Tamar of I Have Cat! Fortunately she was dressed like a regular human. She kept kissing me. I did not mind. Unlike Sparkle, I think kisses are okay.

Almost everybody was nice, but a couple of humans, I think, took liberties with me! What was with the weird tail petting? A lot of people took photos of me and admired my natural beauty! I felt a little bit like a star. Now I know what it’s like for the big kitty stars like Lil Bub, Tara the Hero Cat, Nala Cat, and Dusty the Klepto Cat! They were all there, and I can’t imagine what it would be like to get all that attention all the time! I didn’t get to meet them, which was fine with me — I mean, what if one of them turned out to have a personality like Binga? I’d be so disappointed!

There were some really cool cat toys, like these super fun organic catnip toys from WhimsilyEverAfter!

We cats even had our own restrooms!

It was an amazing experience! I only stayed an hour, though. It was a hot day and my human said I had “passed my expiration date.” I have no idea what that meant — I’m barely over six months old! Anyhow, she wanted to look at the rescue kitties and have lunch and she could tell I was tired, so she took me home and came back for the rest of the event. I guess I’ll just have to catch all the videos I missed on YouTube!
* * *

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!

Bath Time!

One of the downsides of being a show cat — and a therapy cat too — is I have to get baths regularly! Although it is not my favorite thing in the world, as you can tell by my face, I don’t put up a fight or struggle. And that is a good thing, because when I get a show bath, it is a complicated process. My breeder came over to our house to show my human how to do it. She put degreasing goop behind my ears and inside my legs, and then I got two shampoos! One deep cleansing, and another some other type of shampoo my human got at a cat show. Then I got rinsed twice with a part cider vinegar, part water combination. And rinsed and rinsed and rinsed with lots of water. Then I got towel dried, just to mop up the excess water, and a spritz of leave on conditioner. My human says she doesn’t go through that much work for her own hair!

Then there’s the drying process, using a dryer on a stand. My human got the same kind my breeder uses, one that has a cold shot setting to set my fur when it is almost all dry. My human says she does the same thing with her own hair to tame the frizz.

As my fur started to dry, my breeder pulled out the combs and started grooming my fur so it would dry nice and straight and fluffy! I don’t mind having my head lifted like this — judges crank my head up all the time at shows so I’m used to it. Can you see how the comb is just a blur? My human is going to have to practice a lot before she gets this good!

Here I am, almost done being bathed and groomed! I look nice, but even better, I feel really nice to touch too!

This is my favorite part of being groomed — getting treats at the end as a reward for being so good!

Although the grooming job I got was pretty nice, I decided it needed to be fixed just a little. We kitties do know better, right?

See? Now I look perfect!
* * *

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: NOT on Netflix (but Should Be)

My human has never seen Orange Is the New Black and she still cracked up at this parody. But how can you not enjoy a take off on a series when it stars a group of cute orange kittens? Check it out:

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

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: Humans Who Help, and Who Don’t

Some humans are awesome, and some humans, not so much when it comes to us kitties. That seems to be the theme this week, as you will see with the news items I found.

Let’s get right to it!

Here is a guy who really knows how to catify a house! He has spent the past 15 years creating all sorts of cat superhighways and cozy cubbyholes for his felines. I would love to live here!
And speaking of catification, if you’re a feral cat in Los Angeles, life just got a little more comfortable, thanks to Architects for Animals. Fourteen architects put together some really creative outdoor cat shelters and displayed them at a benefit for Fixnation. Here are the amazing structures, which also got donated to the organization.
On the not-helpful front, here is a columnist for the Washington Post, who does not think he has to spay his cat because she is indoors only… like she can’t figure out a way to escape, or a Tom can’t find a way to sneak in! The best part of the story are the comments, calling out this guy on his ignorance. Don’t miss those!
If your cat is stressed out, do you think the cause might be… you? This story from The Guardian lists some things you may want to examine, to make sure you have a truly happy cat.
I hope your cat never gets lost… but if she does — or if you find someone else’s cat who is lost — this blog post from Playful Kitty will have some helpful tips for you. It’s worth bookmarking!

It has been quite a week here too:

I started the week out with a giveaway for David Yow’s art book, Copycat! Have you entered yet?
I modeled my super-cool harness, and also showed how not to wear it!
I thought you might enjoy some cute photos of me sleeping… and I think I was right!
Binga said I had to use her post, A Tortie Guide to Introducing a Kitten to a New Home… and, um, how could I say no?
Yesterday was my 6 month birthday! And I had some other special things to share too.

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

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 Special Day!

Do you know what today is? It is my 6 month birthday! Maybe my human will take me to the pet store and let me pick out a toy.

I am also feeling very special because I got my new TICA registration certificate with my human’s name on it! That means that when she takes me to cat shows, she is official. (I was already official — before now, it had my breeder’s name where my human’s name is now.) My first show with my human is next weekend and I am looking forward to helping her, since I am way more experienced at being shown than she is at showing.

I have even more to show you — my human got her Certificates of Excellence from the Cat Writers Association contest. She earned seven this time! The cool thing about the Certificates of Excellence is they are exactly what they say they are — writing and art that she entered in the contest were judged to be excellent. With the Certificates of Excellence, you are not competing against other writers, but judged on your own merit. The competition part comes when the final scores for each piece are compared to others in the same category. The piece with the highest score in each category wins a Muse Medallion. We won’t know who gets the Muse Medallions until the CWA conference at Barkworld in early November.

The one Certificate that made her the happiest was this one, for Sparkle’s blog. Yes, it is my blog now, but when it was being judged and scored, it was still Sparkle’s. So she earned it. It really should just have just her name on it, and not my human’s.

Binga was happy because her picture got a Certificate of Excellence in the Photographic Art category. This image is available in the Designer Cat Zazzle shop as a card, like the one you see here, and also on postage stamps!

I just want to say — I think she is taking this smell test thing a little too far.

* * *

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 Tortie Guide to Introducing a Kitten to a New Home

Note: Binga told me that Sparkle approved this blog post before I moved in. I am not sure this is true, but she insisted, and I was kind of scared to say no.

Rule #1: All kittens must past the smell test. No exceptions.

Rule #2: Kittens do not take priority in photo sessions. Photobombing by resident torties should not only be allowed, but welcomed.

Rule #3: Any food set in front of the kitten must be taste tested by the resident tortie. If the resident tortie decides she likes it, she is allowed to eat as much as she wants.

Rule #4: All deliveries must be thoroughly inspected by the resident tortie first, and that includes any packages that are addressed specifically to the kitten.

Rule #5: All boxes belong to the resident tortie. The kitten may have the box when the resident tortie becomes bored with it… if that ever happens.

When the kitten is found to be in compliance with all of the above, then and only then may she be allowed to touch noses with the resident tortie.
* * *

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!

Me Sleeping!

Which is your favorite?

* * *

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!