Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 412

Sunday Catinee: Cats Vs. Dogs… We Win!

While I don’t hate dogs like Sparkle did — I actually get along okay with the dog here and wouldn’t dream of whapping her — that doesn’t mean I’m a sap. I know we kitties are still better! And here is proof, courtesy of a pair of kitties that Sparkle was quite fond of, Cole and Marmalade. Although I do think that dog-leaning humans may find this video pretty cute, too.

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: Odd and Exciting News

I have a great selection of amazing stories for this week’s Caturday Report, plus a really useful tidbit (or several) from one of our fellow bloggers!

So let’s see what went on in the cat world this week…

When is it a bad time to pet kitties? When the police are chasing you, as this alleged perp found out!
Distractify lists 15 “annoying” ways cats say “I love you.” Annoying? Let’s see if they get any love from their kitties after writing that headline!
When you are separated from your cat, never give up — this human was reunited with her stolen cat after 10 whole years!
Sadly, Sparkle’s litter box lessons for humans were cut short when they had barely begun. But here is a blog post from the Playful Kitty blog that lists 5 reasons your cat may not be using the litter box. Wise humans will study this post.
And over on the East Coast, the Conscious Cat announces the L.A. Feline Film Festival, which is practically right in my backyard on the West Coast! (Okay, a couple of Metro Rail trains away.) But I have some news of my own — my human says if I am up for it, I get to go, at least for an hour or so! That should be lots of fun!

It was a really exciting week here too! Here is what went on:

I celebrated my spay day by inviting other girl kitties to show off their shaved bellies from their own spays!
I did my first product review, and took on some jobs no other kitty was doing!
I discovered the joys of scratch loungers and sun puddles.
I shared the results of the commenthon for Sparkle’s memorial service, and all the other wonderful donations her friends made.
I had the awesomest adventure — I got to go shopping at PetCo with my human!

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 Trip to PetCo

I got to go to PetCo the other night! I went once before to a different one, but it was the day after I came home, and I hadn’t been introduced to my harness yet, so I was closed in my carrier and my human didn’t get any photos. But I’m used to the harness now, so this time I had a little more freedom. When we parked and my human buckled up my harness in the carrier, I started purring!

Don’t I look totally professional? I had lots of fun helping my human shop for cat food!

And then I saw the most amazing sight! I thought I was dreaming!

It was a whole wall full of cat toys! I didn’t know such a thing existed. I was so excited I wanted to take them all! My human said that when I am calmer and more used to shopping, I will get to pick out my favorite toy to take home. Right now, I’d probably just grab the first thing and get bored with it right away. I can’t wait to go back!

By the way, somebody sent me a message asking about my carrier, and I tried emailing them back, but they must have mistyped their email address. Plus others have asked me about it too, so here is the info. It’s a Pet Gear I-GO2 Traveler Roller Backpack, and this size of I-GO2 is best for small and medium sized cats (Binga and Boodie are both around 10 lbs. and they fit). It can be used as a tote, carrier, roller bag, backpack or car seat, and the only thing my human hasn’t tried is the backpack. It works really nicely for me!

Note: Amazon link is an affiliate link, so I can earn enough money to buy some cat toys!
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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!

Thank You, Part 2

Two weeks ago, when Sparkle said good-bye, I don’t think she realized how deeply her leaving would affect so many. At home, she was just a little cat who needed a big attitude to deal with Binga, but on the internet, she was so much more. She was wise and web-savvy and other cats looked up to her. She would have been bowled over by all the tributes and love that poured in after she died.

When my human decided on a figure to go with the commenthon that went with Sparkle’s memorial post, she knew she was stretching it by going for 500 comments, but you know what? With your help, the post came so close that she is going to donate the full $500 today to Tabby’s Place. But do you know what was even more amazing to her? This:

Each of these cards is someone who donated to Tabby’s Place in Sparkle’s memory. Wow! Several of them had their own commenthons on their own blogs. And a few others donated to a rescue local to them. Thank you so much for remembering Sparkle by spreading your love to help cats in need. Helping other cats was so important to Sparkle, and it is going to be one of my life’s missions too.

Many of you also sent sympathy cards to my human, Binga and Boodie. Here are many of them. Others sent emails or left messages on Facebook. Each one meant so much to my human and she is just now starting to feel up to replying. It’s been a hard couple of weeks. If you want to know how she felt about all this, you can read her post this week on CatChannel.com.

But before this post gets too goopy, I do want to let you know that I’ve been learning the fine art of photo bombing:

Again, and always, thank you.
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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!

Lounging Around

Don’t think that because I have all these new duties that there’s no time for me to rest! When I got here, I realized there were all sorts of scratch loungers, and my favorites are the Brawny Cat ones that are right near the back double doors. They make for an amazing place to relax!

This is also a great spot to take a bath!

And to goof off too!

I’m sure the other two cats don’t mind my hanging out on this lounger, right?

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!

Leftover Business and New Jobs

Even before I came home, my new human put me to work! I was in the hotel room the weekend I was competing in the cat show in Costa Mesa, and she pulled out these treats from Chewy.com! Apparently, Sparkle was supposed to review them, but it was a disaster. She wasn’t eating and Binga tried to steal the whole container and I think my human may have cried. So when she came down to spend the weekend with me, she brought the treats with her.

These are Dr. Tim’s Natural Beef Liver Freeze Dried Treats! The ingredient list is so simple a kitten could read it: beef liver, and nothing more. It has been freeze dried and it is for both cats and dogs! The pieces are kind of big, so they need to be broken down for kitties, and even smaller for kittens like me who are just getting in their adult teeth. They are kind of hard to break up, so my human found the smallest pieces in the container to give me and I loved them!

In fact, I thought they were so tasty, I tried to eat one of the big chunks! My human said when we got home, she would break them up into smaller pieces for me. (They can also be soaked in water.)

Once I got home, I found there were jobs that no kitty was doing. Like this one — if my human takes a nap on the sofa, there’s a totally unused spot on the pillow, right above her head! So I took it over.

I’m also head mousie hunter. Here are two of my latest kills. I can’t wait to see what other jobs I will be assigned!
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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!

Spay Day Party!

I was spayed last week, and I’ve decided to have a party to celebrate! But first let me tell you about my day.

I should have known something was up when my human took me to the vet in an old carrier instead of my pretty pink one. But I was oblivious. I just thought I was going somewhere fun. And it was mostly, for a while. Then they stuck this paper collar on me.

They gave me a number and took away my name!

Plus the thing was itchy. I decided to explore while my human and the vet were talking. I actually wasn’t supposed to be spayed this soon but according to my human, I have been displaying some behavior that indicated I was about to get hot or something like that. I don’t get it — it’s already hot here in southern California and besides, we have air conditioning. Anyhow I was rolling on the floor and looking cute and flirty and my human said, “I think we’re getting to her just in time.” Then she left me there and I was the star of the vet clinic! They put me in a cage for a while and everyone talked to me and admired me. It was almost like being at a cat show until they knocked me out. Then I woke up with a cone on my head.

My human felt really bad about the cone, but I’m the kind of kitty who chews on her stomach, so I had to wear something. So she went to the pet store that night and came home with a more fashionable alternative.

It does make it hard to clean up after eating, though! My human says it was kind of pricey for a one-time use, but she’ll donate it to a rescue now that I’m done with it. So this means I’m taking off doing any shows for about a month while my fur grows back. But it is a lot better than the alternative. My human and my breeder both agreed that being a mom would not be good for my career as a therapy cat in training — I’d have to take a lot of time off to care for a family. And I was developing at an early age and too young to be a mom anyhow.

So I think it was a good idea to trust my human with this decision!

Now here’s the fun party part! Instead of today being Labor Day, how about us girls have a Spay Day instead! Do you have a photo of yourself after you were spayed? If you are on Facebook, post a photo of your shaved belly on my Facebook page and I’ll share it! If you are on Twitter, post your photo there and tag me, @sparklecat (I’m posting from Sparkle’s old Twitter name). I’ll retweet! Not on either? You can send me a photo at summer AT sparklecat.com by the end of today and I will share it here!

What about you boycats? Well, you can cheer us girls on and congratulate us for our wise decision! I hope you are neutered too — it’s the only way to be!
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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: Slick Kitty Satire

Do you like the new Sunday Catinee graphic featuring me? My human whipped it up kind of quickly, but I think it works for now!

I know if Sparkle were here, she would want to feature this fun video from the Catastrophes humans this week! She was a big fan of theirs and I am too. Their latest mini-movie is one of their best — it’s stylish, it’s a slick takeoff on Sin City, and it features adoptable kittens from Treehouse Humane Society in Chicago! Plus it stars my new pal Crepes from the Cat in the Fridge blog in a gender bending role (don’t quote me on this, but I think they dubbed her voice).

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: Summer’s First Edition

I was a little nervous putting together my first Caturday Report! I know it’s supposed to be easy to find newsy items about kitties, since everyone loves to talk so much about us, but I wanted to make sure they were the right ones!

Sparkle was right — cat bloggers have way more useful information than the more “official” news outlets! You can see here:

Did you know how much Russians love us kitties? Inspired by an old superstition, a Russian bank is loaning cats for free to walk over the thresholds for new homeowners and bring them good luck! No, they don’t get to keep them.
The news that Hello Kitty might not be a cat has rocked the internet! This story sets it all straight… well, maybe not.
Holistic vet, Dr. Jean Hofve, DVM, discusses people who are allergic to cats on Jackson Galaxy’s blog, and suggests some solutions for humans who want to live with kitties.
Here is an important post from the Conscious Cat, about disaster preparedness for cats! Every human needs to have a plan!
This is my own favorite story — a post from Playful Kitty about how petting a cat benefits human health! This is why I am studying to be a therapy cat.

It has been an eventful week and a half here, as you know. Here is what happened, in case you missed any of it:

If you haven’t read Sparkle’s good-bye post yet, please do. It’s beautiful.
Sparkle also introduced me just before the weekend I came home.
Her last post was her Human Astrology for Cats column, about Virgo humans. She didn’t complete the year-long series. I’m not sure what to do. There are still four more sun signs to go. Do you think I should try to tackle them? I’m not experienced in astrology like Sparkle was… and can I trust my human (who did study astrology) to be impartial enough to help?
Here is my first post from my new home!
My first week here was very eventful! Here is some of what went on.
Lastly, and most importantly, is Sparkle’s memorial service and commenthon. So far there are way over 300 comments, which is amazing! But there is still a ways to go before reaching our 500 comment goal, so please stop by and comment if you haven’t yet!

Did I do okay? I hope so! 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!

Celebrating Sparkle and Commenthon

Sparkle left us a week and a day ago today, and ever since, the cat blogosphere has been in mourning. So today, instead of tears of sadness, let’s spread tears of joy for a life well lived. Sparkle was a small cat, never weighing much more than six pounds and often less, but her presence on the internet was larger than life. Any big cat would have envied her influence.

Sparkle’s beginnings were, to be honest, not humble. She was a purebred Somali cat who was privileged enough to know her exact birthday, who her parents were, and most importantly, that she was wanted from birth. Eventually she came to learn that so many cats were far less fortunate than she was, and she made the choice to fight for them, to write about them on her blog, spread the word about them through social media and to ask for donations for them. Often she encouraged her human to open up her own pocketbook and help out kitties in need.

But let’s start at the beginning. When Sparkle first came home to Los Angeles, she almost instantly became a blogging kitty. And she was just a kitten. Here she is at five months. Does she look a little like anyone you know?

At first her blog was just a monthly diary of the goings-on at her house.

But soon enough she realized there was a need to offer cat advice — from a cat’s perspective, so she began her cat-to-cat advice column. A few months later she also began reviewing books about cats and reviewing cat items. Back in 2003, 2004 and 2005, this was a novelty. Cats were barely a blip on the internet and blogging cats? Practically nonexistent.

Sparkle set out to change that — and she did! When she discovered that there were other cat blogs developing, and that the Cat Blogosphere had formed, she already had several accomplishments of note: she had become an award-winning model, with a photo earning top prize in a Cats USA competition, her blog had appeared in a book by Yanik Silver, Moonlighting on the Internet, and she had already begun promoting cat rescues via social media, by helping spread the word about Winging Cat Rescue on her MySpace account. Sparkle was a pioneer.

By the time Sparkle had found Twitter, the Cat Blogosphere, and so many of her friends, she was getting ready for her next accomplishment: she became an author. She had two books of her cat-to-cat advice published in her life time, and at the time of her death she had two more partially written and left unfinished.

But whether she was helping raise money for World Vets after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, saving the life of one special kitty, or interviewing Jackson Galaxy, Sparkle always kept it real and down to earth. Maybe she got some help on that from her roommates Boodie, and especially Binga. Sparkle mostly saved her catitude for humans, those creatures who were born to serve kitties but who don’t always realize it, and for any organization or legislator who did anything to harm cats in general.

Over the course of her lifetime, Sparkle wrote over 2100 blog posts and two books, was featured on wall calendars 11 years in a row, and her image will live on in the cards, mugs and other items in her Zazzle store. She befriended hundreds of cats on the internet, and had a pawful of special pals. She had a lot of fun, a lot of laughs, and shared her bounty with her readers — it wasn’t so much generosity as she felt it was the least she could do to give back after receiving so much.

Sparkle’s legacy will live on, beginning with the commenthon attached to this memorial service. One of Sparkle’s favorite cat rescues and sanctuaries was Tabby’s Place, the Ringoes, NJ organization that works so hard to help cats in desperate situations. Many of their residents are special needs… and they do get adopted! This is a very special place, and Sparkle’s human has pledged $1 for each comment on this blog post, from now until the end of Labor Day weekend, Monday, September 1, at Midnight Pacific Time, up to $500 (you are also welcome to make your own donation to this special group). So please share your favorite memories of Sparkle below, or wish her well on her journey to… where ever she may be going. We all have different beliefs, spiritual or not, but there is one thing for sure — Sparkle did her best to make this world a better one for cats, and for that, she will live on in our hearts.
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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!