Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 441

50% Off My Tote Bags This Weekend! All Royalties Donated

I wanted to let you know my No Declaw Tote Bags are 50% off this weekend with code JUSTFORYOU13! Zazzle doesn’t have the tote bags discounted that much very often, and I really want to sell some more this month because all of the royalties from each one through December go to the Paw Project. I set a goal of 20 and so far I have only sold 5. That is a little over 10 dollars in royalties and I don’t think that is very much to donate!

In addition to the Budget Tote Bag above, you can put the same design on seven different tote styles, like the Jumbo size above, which is 20″ wide x 14-1/2″ high and 4-1/2″ deep. Just click on “Make Options” under the Customization/ Product information box on the right when you go to the Zazzle page and have fun making it just the way you want!

The “Impulse” style above is my favorite. It is 18-1/2″ wide x 13-1/2″ high and 5-1/2″ deep, and you have a choice of color accents.

The Grocery Tote Bag is 13″ wide x 15-1/2″ high and 7″ deep.

This is a really great deal — you can get the premium totes for a budget price, or two totes for the price of one! And you are helping raise awareness about how bad declawing is at the same time! The 50% off deal is only good until Sunday, December 22 at midnight Pacific Time, so take advantage now!

Just an aside… the same deal works for mugs too! You can buy any of my mugs for half off this weekend with code JUSTFORYOU13 until December 22 at midnight Pacific Time! Explore my mugs here.
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” I have answers to many annoying problems in my two award-winning books! Visit my author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of my awesome Dear Sparkle books!

Packing My Secret Paws Gifts

It took us long enough to get our Secret Paws gifts together! And it is mainly because some things we ordered before Thanksgiving did not arrive until this week! I was kind of sad about that because our Secret Paws partner is outside of the U.S. and this means the box will be arriving late.

On top of that, mistakes were made. My human bought the wrong colored bows to go on the badly-wrapped gifts (seriously, she wraps presents like a 4-year-old), so we wound up skipping the bow part.

Then the first box we tried was clearly too small!

I won’t even get into Binga’s wrapping “help.”

But finally everything got packed, the card got signed and my human dropped it off at the post office on Friday! I hope my Secret Paws partner thinks it is worth the wait!
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” I have answers to many annoying problems in my two award-winning books! Visit my author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of my awesome Dear Sparkle books!

The Bad Christmas Kitty, Part 2

For Part 1 of this 3-part story, go here.

It was a gray morning when Bad Kitty woke up. He crawled from under the porch and looked at the sky. There were lots of clouds and he could smell the dampness of coming rain mixed in with the salty breeze from the nearby ocean. He looked back at his old house and made a decision.

“If they don’t want me, I don’t want them either.” And Bad Kitty trotted down the street.

Bad Kitty did not know where he was going, but he had a long ago memory of when he was a kitten. He had lived outside before when he was very young and he knew he could find food in the big plastic bins that sat outside people’s houses. He could smell that many of the bins had food in them and he was lucky enough to find a one that was open. He found some bird that tasted like what he had stolen the night before, only it was dry and stale. He ate his fill and kept trotting down the street as raindrops started to fall.

Soon the rain began to pour down and Bad Kitty had to find shelter under a bush. He could no longer remember where his old house was. Even though he did not want to go home, he did not want to be stuck outside either. Several wet days passed and he took shelter wherever he could — under cars, in dry corners of buildings and once even in an old doghouse that only had the faintest smell of dog.

Finally, the sun came out and Bad Kitty wandered past a large asphalt lot with a chain link fence around it. It was afternoon and children were coming out of a gate onto the sidewalk, laughing and playing. Bad Kitty thought maybe he should run and hide, but then he saw a boy with brown hair and a girl who looked a little like him, only smaller. They seemed friendly, so he walked up to them and meowed hello.

“A kitty!” the girl said in a shrill voice.

“Shhh,” said the boy. “You might scare him.”

He held out his hand for Bad Kitty to smell. Bad Kitty sniffed his hand for a moment and then rubbed up against it. He could tell that the boy was kind.

“You said you wanted a kitty for Christmas!” said the girl, just a little less loudly. “Are we going to keep him?”

“I don’t know. We have to ask Mom and Dad,” said the boy.

A white car drove up and stopped by the children. The woman inside opened the door. She had yellow hair, but blue eyes just like the boy’s. Bad Kitty guessed it was the Mom.

“What have you got there, Ryan?” she asked.

The girl answered for him. “It’s a kitty! Can we keep him?”

“She asked me, Emma!” said Ryan, and then added, “He is very friendly.”

The Mom looked at Bad Kitty, and then at Ryan.

“If he’s friendly, maybe he belongs to somebody,” she said. “He could be lost. We can take him home and make flyers to see if someone is missing him.”

“Yay!” said Emma.

“Shhh,” said Ryan as he picked up Bad Kitty. For the first time in a long time, perhaps ever, Bad Kitty felt wanted.

That night, the Mom and Ryan worked together to make a flyer with Bad Kitty’s photo on it. They made a lot of copies and the next day, they posted them for several blocks around the school.

“I hope he doesn’t have a home,” said Emma.

“He does have a home — with us, no matter what,” said Ryan.

But then something happened that upset Emma. She and the Mom were in the kitchen and the Mom was helping her make a sandwich. Emma was holding a slice of turkey and Bad Kitty couldn’t help himself. He jumped up on the counter and took it right out of her hand!

“What a bad kitty!” said Emma as Bad Kitty ran away with the turkey.

“He’s not a bad kitty,” said the Mom. “He just doesn’t know any better. Maybe we can show him that if he waits and does not try to take the turkey, he will get some of his own.”

They tried it and after a couple of days, something amazing happened — it worked! Bad Kitty learned that when he tried to take food, he was not allowed to have any, but when he waited, he got a treat.

“I knew he was a good cat,” said Ryan.

Another day, Bad Kitty needed to stretch his paws, so he began to claw the sofa.

“No, no, no — bad kitty!” said the Dad, who looked like a grown-up version of Ryan. Bad Kitty got scared at his stern voice and ran under the bed.

“Uh-oh,” said the Mom, “I knew we should have gotten him a scratcher. I’ll go to the pet store tomorrow.”

“But we don’t even know if he belongs to somebody,” said the Dad.

“It has been a week and no one has called,” said the Mom. “I am sure he doesn’t belong to anyone.”

But that weekend, the phone did ring.

Part 3 will run on Christmas Eve.
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” I have answers to many annoying problems in my two award-winning books! Visit my author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of my awesome Dear Sparkle books!

Pet Boxing… and Some Winners

I am ready to announce the winner of my PetBox giveaway! Well, at least I was…

Until she came along! You have no idea what I’ve had to deal with the past couple of weeks. She has been incorrigible. I think I have had enough.

Honestly, boxing is the only thing she understands.

Just pretend you didn’t see the first three photos, okay? Now I can finally announce the PetBox winner! It is…

Melissa of Melissa’s Mochas, Mysteries and More!

Concatulations, Melissa and Truffles! Enjoy your PetBox!

I also have donation winners, and I am really excited! The first winner is Meowmeowmans and PAWS of Norwalk, Connecticut! And I also picked a winner from my newsletter subscribers and it was His Hands Extended Sanctuary, suggested by Jeanne of Random Felines! My human has already donated to both organizations. Thanks everybody for suggesting so many awesome and worthy rescues!

In case you are wondering, Part 2 of my human’s 3-part short story about the “Bad Christmas Kitty” is tomorrow!
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” I have answers to many annoying problems in my two award-winning books! Visit my author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of my awesome Dear Sparkle books!

Wordless Wednesday: Sometimes the Wrong End of the Feather Wand Is More Fun

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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” I have answers to many annoying problems in my two award-winning books! Visit my author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of my awesome Dear Sparkle books!

The Bad Christmas Kitty, Part 1

I have a surprise for you today! My human wrote a short story for Christmas. Actually she has only written the first part of it. There are two more parts — Part 2 will run later in the week and Part 3 will run on Christmas Eve. She was not expecting to do this. It just sort of happened. It is a story about a misbehaving kitty and it is a children’s story… but anyone who loves cats will enjoy it.

The Bad Christmas Kitty

Once upon a time, there was a little cat who was a big troublemaker. He liked jumping on the kitchen counter and stealing whatever was there, whether it was some yummy cheese that was meant for a sandwich or a cherry tomato that would make a fun toy. He also loved climbing the back of the sofa so he could nap on top of it in the afternoon when the sun was nice and bright. He did not care that he was tearing the sofa with his claws.

There was only one problem. His family did not like his antics. They were always telling him, “No, no, don’t do that! Bad Kitty.” After a while the little cat could not remember what his name was anymore. He just thought his name was Bad Kitty.

One day his family was planning something that was a Big Deal. It involved a lot of work in the kitchen. The female human was putting food into dishes and there was a gigantic bird on the counter. Bad Kitty had never seen a bird that was so big, or that smelled so wonderful. So when the female human walked out of the kitchen, just for a moment, Bad Kitty took a chance and jumped on the counter. He attacked the big bird, tearing out mouthfuls of flesh. It was amazing. He had never tasted anything so good!

Bad Kitty was so focused on the bird that he did not realize the female human had returned until he heard her shout, “Bad Kitty!” in a terrible voice he had never heard before. The next thing he knew, he was being lifted into the air. He was so shocked that he growled, and the female human repeated, “Bad Kitty!” in an even worse voice.

Then something really awful happened. The female human opened the back door to the outside and threw him out!

“You awful cat!” she yelled at him. “Go away and don’t come back!”

She slammed the door shut and it was suddenly quiet. Bad Kitty padded up to the door and scratched at it and meowed but nobody answered. He could still smell the bird inside the kitchen and he could hear people talking, but nobody came to the door.

Bad kitty sat outside the door for a long time. The sun disappeared behind the house and it got dark. The lights came on in the house. Through the window, he could see people arriving and talking and laughing. But nobody seemed to miss him at all. Bad Kitty realized that nobody wanted him around. Or worse yet, maybe nobody even cared about him at all. He went to sleep under the porch, hoping that when he woke up, he would discover it was just a bad dream.

To be continued…

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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” I have answers to many annoying problems in my two award-winning books! Visit my author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of my awesome Dear Sparkle books!

My Kitty Psychic Reading

I really don’t know why my human agreed to have a psychic do a reading for us cats. If the psychic from Psychic Source could have talked to us kitties directly, I’m sure it would have been pretty good, but my human neglected to mention (mainly because she forgot) that she is the worst, most unreadable subject for a psychic! They can never figure her out and usually get a lot of wrong stuff about her. And since she had to be the go-between for the psychic and us cats, the results were mixed. I don’t blame the psychic at all — she seemed very nice and I know she’s done way better for friends of ours — I blame my human.

We had Nancy, the same lady as Glogirly and Tamar of I Have Cat. The first thing she got wrong was she thought from my photos that I was a boy kitty! Which, in a way, was kind of interesting because lots of humans and kitties have mistaken me for a boy cat! I must give off some sort of feline masculine energy. My human told her I was kind of a “Tomgirl cat,” which explains a lot.

She also thought Binga was a little cat… which she isn’t. And that she and Boodie were alike, when they are actually opposites. She thought I was here the longest, when I was actually the most recent cat to come live with my human (although that was in 2002, so it was quite a long time ago). But Nancy did get some things right. “Sparkle does sparkle,” she said. “She has a mission. I feel she does.” Yes! She also said Boodie is laid back and will sleep anywhere, which she pretty much does. And she did say we have a happy home. Then Nancy asked if she could pull some Tarot cards for us.

Bet you weren’t expecting that we had kitty-sized Tarot cards, did you?

Nancy said I saw my human as the Queen of Pentacles, which makes sense because she’s the money manager around here and she’s the one who buys us stuff.

She said that Binga saw my human as the Empress, which cracks me up because if that is true, she is in a constant state of revolt!

Then she said that Binga saw my human’s boyfriend as the Chariot, or as her “Knight in Shining Armor,” and since he is the one who gives her treats every day, that is probably pretty accurate. Boodie didn’t get any cards pulled because no one thought about it, which is also pretty descriptive of Boodie’s personality.

Nancy asked if my human wanted to know anything else and she said, “Yes, Sparkle is really a picky eater and the vets have never been able to diagnose her problem in a way that could help her eat more. Can you sense anything I might be able to look into?”

Nancy thought I seemed pretty healthy, just cautious about food. Then she said, “A cat that my sister has is very much like Sparkle. She is a very picky eater and my sister started giving her small portions of canned chicken.” The cat’s vet said it was all right as a supplement to her regular cat food if she was going through a period where she wasn’t eating enough.

I take back anything negative I said about Nancy’s reading! Thank you — you were awesome! If any of you kitties want to try your paw at a reading (and maybe get some canned chicken), you can find the pet psychics here.

Disclosure: I got my psychic reading for free and was not compensated in any other way. My opinions are totally my own. And I love chicken!
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” I have answers to many annoying problems in my two award-winning books! Visit my author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of my awesome Dear Sparkle books!

Sunday Catinee: Simon’s REAL Cats

I was looking around for new holiday cat videos… and came across a recent entry from animator Simon Tofield in which he talks a little bit about his cats. They all in one way or another inspired the stories that make up the Simon’s Cat cartoons, but it’s Hugh whose personality and body shape most figure into the kitty protagonist we’ve all grown to know and love. You may recall that my human got to hear Simon speak about his cats during the Purina Better With Pets Summit — now here’s a chance for you to enjoy meeting his real cats. The Christmas program will just have to wait until next week.

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,” I have answers to many annoying problems in my two award-winning books! Visit my author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of my awesome Dear Sparkle books!

The Whole Scoop on Whole Paws Cat Food from #WholeFoodsPets

I am supposed to tell you all about the new premium cat food from Whole Foods® today. It is called Whole Paws®… but I don’t seem to be getting a whole lot of help here!

Sheesh! Well, this is what happens when you have to work with amateurs.

Although perhaps I shouldn’t say anything about amateurs since none of the kitties on the cans or bags of Whole Paws® food are professional models! They are all real pets, and their names and ages are right on the labels.

The food inside the cans and bags is real too — real meat with no by-products. No grain. No soy or corn. Wholesome proteins like chicken or salmon are the first ingredients listed on the packaging.

Not only is a wholesome diet important to kitties, it also matters to our humans! Did you know that 79 percent of pet owners think the quali­ty of pet food is as important as the quality of human food? I imagine the other 21 percent are like my human, who believes the quality of our food is more important than what she eats! You would not believe the junk she brings home for herself. But when it comes to us kitties, she is very particular. She spends a lot of time reading labels and money buying us high quality food at pet stores. A lot of which I shun, which means she gets to spend even more money. The Whole Paws cat food, being Whole Foods’ own label, is reasonably priced compared to some of the other premium brands out there — and if your human shops at Whole Foods regularly, she can pick up your food without having to make an extra trip to the pet store. So if you are used to buying premium food for your kitties already, you might want to give Whole Paws a try!

And we’ll be giving this a try and telling you about it in a couple of weeks! Binga is not happy about having to wait. How come my human never gets the blame?

Disclaimer: I have written this post on behalf of BlogPaws Pet Blogger Network for Whole Foods. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Whole Foods Whole Paws, but at sparkecat.com, I only share information I feel is relevant to my readers.
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” I have answers to many annoying problems in my two award-winning books! Visit my author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of my awesome Dear Sparkle books!

A Celebration and a Smack Down

I have awesome news and awful news today, which I think illustrates the best and worst of humans. Don’t worry, no kitties got hurt in the awful news… ugliness in the heart doesn’t always express itself violently, but that does not mean it is any less hurtful — because its expression can lead to harmful acts.

But first the good news. I have to give a big paws up to the Friskies team, and celebrity cats Grumpy Cat, Oskar the Blind Cat, Colonel Meow, Nala Cat and Hamilton the Hipster Cat. Just yesterday, I shared a blog post about the music video these kitties made with Friskies. Every time the video was viewed, Friskies promised to donate a can of cat food to the rescues each celebrity cat supported, up to 500,000 cans. Well, the video debuted on Tuesday, December 10, and it only took two days for it to reach its goal! That means Humane Society Silicon Valley, Kitten Rescue, Seattle Persian and Himalayan Rescue, Purrfect Pals and the Cat Welfare Association are each getting 100,000 cans of cat food! That is going to feed a lot of kitties in need! Great job, everybody!

Now I want to mention something a lot less pleasant. In the middle of this worthy event, TMZ came out with a small-minded and cruel video making fun of Grumpy Cat, calling her retarded and stupid and making fun of her. Grumpy Cat has feline dwarfism and a placid demeanor, neither of which necessarily indicates a lack of intelligence… but even if she weren’t very bright, it’s still horribly wrong to poke fun at a creature (or a kid) that is different. It gives validation to the worst impulses in human beings and encourages people to do awful things to animals and other humans who are different from the norm. Sorry I’m not linking to the video, but if you want to watch it (and get as mad as me and my human), you can go to the TMZ website and do a search on Grumpy Cat. TMZ gets an emphatic paws down for this tasteless and ill-timed video. They have never been a paragon of good taste, but this is even lower than the regular fare on their website.

Now that I’ve had my say, let’s forget about TMZ and remember all the good humans and animals can do when they work together.
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” I have answers to many annoying problems in my two award-winning books! Visit my author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of my awesome Dear Sparkle books!