Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 450

Intoxicating Kitty Story on Catster!

My human’s first story on Catster is up — on fun highs for us kitties! Check it out here: http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-behavior-tips-humor-stoned-totally-legal – and let me know what you think!
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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!

Myths About Humans – DEBUNKED!

When we kitties talk amongst ourselves, we are bound to spread some untruths about humans. All too often we rely on rumors, conjecture and old cats’ tails when trading information on how to deal with humans and what they can and can’t do. Since I’m the internet’s foremost feline advice columnist (at least according to the cover of my second book), who better to debunk these human myths than me? So I’ve put together some of the most common human myths and given you the real scoop (and I don’t mean litter scoop)!

Humans were put on earth solely for the purpose of serving cats

Myth? Maybe

The truth is, nobody really knows why humans are here. Some say they evolved from lesser creatures, and if true it means they still have a ways to go before reaching the heights of feline status. Others say humans originally came from outer space… but I’ve heard the same thing said about us kitties. In any case, humans seem to do a lot of other things besides catering to our every whim, most of it either useless activity (playing with computers and reams of paper in sterile cubicles) or downright destructive (cutting down the rainforest, hurting other people and animals, etc.). Of course, nothing else they do, good or bad, is quite as important as serving us — that part is truth.

Humans use vocalizations to communicate

Myth? Sort of

Humans do use vocalizations. A lot. But often it seems to be a miscommunication tool, since they so often argue about things amongst themselves. If you look at the bigger picture, the vocalizations humans use tend to cause misunderstandings and bad feelings more often than not, so I lean towards this myth being mostly false. It is a good thing that when we cats communicate amongst ourselves, it is with a minimum of vocalization. We are more direct and to the point, and we don’t try to trick the other kitty with “words.”

Human behavior foretells events

Myth? Depends

Sometimes humans don’t even know what they are going to do next, so thinking they can foretell events seems kind of silly. We kitties are better at judging weather changes and the coming of natural disasters than they are. If you see humans bringing in supplies for a storm, trust yourself, not them. On the other hand, when you see them picking up the ring with their keys on it, it does usually mean they are headed out somewhere. Same with the dreaded suitcase. And if they are putting a lot of things in boxes — watch out! Everybody is probably leaving the house, for good. So it really depends on the event being foretold.

Humans scoop your used litter in a vain attempt to prove dominance

Myth? Yes

There are actually a lot of myths regarding humans and litter box scooping. This is just one of them. There is another, more alarming myth in which humans use these scoopings to cast spells on us kitties! Fortunately, these are all untrue. It’s quite simple, really. Humans scoop the litter box in hopes that we will keep using it and not use other parts of the house to “do our business.” They also have an aversion to the way used litter smells and they are just trying to get rid of the scent. It’s nothing personal and certainly nothing nefarious. This myth is just a case of kitties letting their imaginations run wild. Most humans realize it is impossible to have any sort of dominance over a cat. And humans who don’t know that are just plain dumb and have probably never lived with a cat or scooped a litter box.
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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: Guitar Kitties

Adam Cantor is just 26, and a very talented classical guitarist. His two kitties agree. at 2:12 minutes, this clip is a little longer than usual, but I think you will enjoy listening to Adam as much as his cats do.

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

In this shorter video, Adam’s feline pals are hanging out in the cat bed that humans mistakenly use to put guitars in.

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

Possibly inspired by Adam, this cat wants to pick up guitar, but he has a long way to go:

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!

Photo Hunt: Spark

Why did my human crop today’s photo so strangely? Because she figured since today’s Photo Hunt theme was only part of “Sparkle,” she would only show part of me.

Here is how she would have cropped it if the theme had been “Arkle,” which of course would never happen because that isn’t even a word.

She thinks she is so witty. I think it was a dumb idea. Let me know if you agree with me!
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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!

Kickin’ Good Fun!

As you can see, I have had another awesome mail delivery! Let’s check it out…

It’s Kitty Kick Stix! Oh, and look who’s here.

My human “put Binga away” temporarily so that I could show them to you without anymore photo bombs. Aren’t they cool? They are 15″ long and 3″ thick! They contain catnip and bells, although I couldn’t really hear the bells through all the stuffing, just some rattling. I’m going to try one out right now.

Wow, this is an intensely good time! And I will tell you a little secret: my human sweetened it with just a touch of silver vine powder and that made me go even crazier.

After I had my fun, my human released Binga from solitary so she could try it out too. If it is sturdy enough to stand up to Binga’s abuse, that is pretty impressive!

You can get your Kitty Kick Stix here! Or you can win this one! They come in packages of two, and I thought they were too cool not to share with my readers. It’s a simple giveaway, and all my readers are eligible. No Rafflecopter today — all you have to do is say you want to be entered in the comments below and on Monday, October 14, I will pick a winner. That’s it, so good luck!
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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!

Thanks For Nothin’ Thursday

No, I am not happy today, not at all. And you are probably thinking I should be, because yesterday’s blog post wildly popular and received lots of traffic and comments. Tuesday’s post too. But no, I am not overjoyed in the least. In fact, quite the opposite. You must be wondering why.

Easy. Both blog posts involved cat costumes.

Binga is so bummed out, she is drowning her sorrows in valerian and silver vine.

C’mon you guys, this is setting a bad precedent. You’re making my human feel like she did something right! Please remind her that even though October is young, she has already used up her cat costume credits, and there will be no more. ’Kay?
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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: Boo! Hoo Hoo

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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!

Binga’s Not-So-Excellent Tortie Tuesday

The day started off all right for Binga. My human’s boyfriend came home after playing a couple of shows on the East Coast, and he brought home a new cat bed. Fortunately he took out the guitar that was taking up all the space.

But then things took a turn for the worse. Halloween is still a whole month off and my human has already been bringing home some unspeakable horrors. We thought she was done after the Carmen Miranda debacle but no. She came back from PetCo a while back with this:

Fortunately for me, it was one size fits all, which always means its too big for me. Binga, not-so-fortunately for her, is a perfectly average-sized cat. One size always fits her.

Don’t you think the Pharoah Cat headdress makes her look like she just walked out of Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton? I don’t think so either.

She thinks she is hearing the call of ancient Egypt. I just think she is hearing things.

Note: The photo and link to the Egyptian Pharoah Cat Costume are PetCo affiliate links… but I do NOT endorse or recommend this!
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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!

What Was in the Box

I have to say the results are pretty definitive.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Eighty-nine percent of you said I should should not have to wait to get what was in the box you saw last week. So I get it now. I’ll worry about Christmas later. That is forever away anyhow.

It is a kitty airplane!

Except it looks like there is some assembly required. With my help, I’m sure my human will have it put together in no time.

Hm. Even with my help, I’m not sure my human can do this!

Well, so far, so good!

Can you believe she did it? And it probably only took her a half hour or so, not counting the Facebook breaks. Which meant it took a couple of hours. I can’t wait to give it a spin!

Wait a minute — this plane isn’t going anywhere!

I’d better have my mechanic take a look.

What do you mean there’s no engine!

Honestly, since it has been assembled, all of us have been in and out of it… but I would have been much happier if it had actually flown.
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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: Awesome Senior Kitty PSA

Here are 10 great reasons to adopt an older cat, starring Jack-Jack, an 18-year-old guy who was living at Big Cat Rescue. Chris Poole, the human who shot the video, works at the sanctuary and took care of him for about year. Jack-Jack now lives with a friend in a big house with other (small) kitties.

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

If you are wondering about the kitten, he is Marmalade and lives with the filmmaker (he came from a friend who needed to find him a home). So obviously Chris likes kitties of all ages — and sizes!
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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!