Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 456

Wordless Wednesday: Binga and the Pipe Cleaner

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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!

Winner Wars

I was planning on announcing the winners of the Fancy Feast Delights with Cheddar samplers solo, but I guess that’s not gonna happen.

By the way, you wouldn’t happen to know what happened to the fourth can of Fancy Feast, would you?

I was hoping that would get rid of her, but she’s still behind me, isn’t she? Well, anyway, I have 20 winners! And instead of just listing them all one by one, you can see who they are on the Rafflecopter widget below! Look carefully — I’ve sent emails to everybody, but as of the time I posted this blog, there are still three of you that I haven’t heard back from! So if you see your name and you haven’t heard from me, send me an email through my contact form!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Concatulations to everybody!

Now it’s time to announce the winner of the Kitty Bungalow A CATbaret swag bag… if Binga will let me! She is still mad I told her she was disqualified from entering. I hope I can announce the winner without having to resort to smacky paws… and it is…

Sweet Purrfections

Concatulations, Truffle and Brulee! I had better box up this swag, and the bag, before somebody tries to steal something!
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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!

An Open House for NKLA’s Pet Adoption Center (Kittens Inside!)

My human got invited to the Grand Opening of the brand new NKLA Pet Adoption Center, so I thought I would take the opportunity to tell you a little bit about it, and about NKLA (No Kill L.A.) in general. I think you’ll be happy about the efforts the second biggest city in the U.S. is making to help homeless pets.

NKLA is a coalition of animal welfare organizations, city shelters, and humans who are passionate about helping animals. It is led by Best Friends Animal Society, and its goal is to make Los Angeles a no-kill city by 2017. There is still a ways to go, but since NKLA formed in 2012, shelter deaths have been decreasing. There were 4,200 fewer animals killed than the year prior. In addition, NKLA had a paw in 23,421 adoptions and 4,458 spay and neuter operations.

While the champagne might make you think this was a fancy affair (and it sort of was — the mayor’s wife was in attendance), these bottles were donated by Moët & Chandon. My human did not have any, though, because she had a long drive home!

In spite of the champagne, the beautiful rose centerpieces (also donated), and the light brunch, it did not disguise the fact that there is still a long way to go to get to NKLA’s goal.

As you can see, they were very big on encouraging humans to foster!

The facilities are bright and homey and state-of-the-art! And it was so new that the cat area wasn’t even finished yet. But so that cat people could get their kitty fix, there were lots of kittens in cages and enclosures. My human played with these two for a while, and they were not pleased when she stopped to take some pictures.

I especially like this kitten, who would not even look at my human the moment she started taking pictures!

I think Sierra here really wanted to go home with someone! He spent his time looking extra cute.

That is, when he wasn’t demanding attention! His is one of the profiles that is currently up on the NKLA site… unless somebody has already taken him home!

All the pets at the NKLA Pet Adoption Center were rescued from city shelters or the street. Before being put up for adoption, they are taken to Best Friends’ facility in Mission Hills, where they are given any medical attention or therapy they might need, then brought to the adoption center to find homes. Some of them also spend time with foster humans. My human could tell that the kittens she met had great fosters because they were so friendly and sweet.

The NKLA Pet Adoption Center is open from noon to 8 PM daily, and is located at 1845 Pontius Ave., West Los Angeles, right off the 405 freeway. If you come to L.A., you need to see it!
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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: The Friskies!

The Friskies cat video awards were so much fun last year that they are having it again this year! Hopefuls submitted their clips a few weeks ago, and the semi-finalists were just announced. There are four categories: Cat Comedy, Catventure, Pursuit of Food/ Treat (maybe I should have entered Binga in that one!), and Rescue Cat, and each category has five finalists. I am happy to say that my late friend, Gracie of the Tiniest Tiger, is one of the competitors in the Catventure category.

It is up to you viewers to vote for the 12 videos that will make it to the finals, and the award show will be held October 15, 2013 in New York City. The winning video in each category and a Fan Favorite will win a total of $25,000 in cash prizes and gold-plated Catuette trophies! To vote for your favorites, go to The Friskies website — you can vote once in each category every day until noon Eastern Time September 16.

Here is the really cool part about voting: for every video vote at The Friskies website, Friskies will donate a can of cat food to the The Friskies’ cat charity partners, up to 25,000 cans to their 20 partners. This is part of the part of the “Share to Care” program, and Friskies is hoping to surpass 250,000 cans of donated food in total during the voting period!

I have a couple of videos that I like a lot. In the Cat Comedy category, here is a kitty who has an issue with the printer. You have to watch it ’til the end. Trust me on this. Don’t worry, it’s only 33 seconds long.

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

I also liked this wacky take on game shows in the Pursuit of Food/ Treat category. Liddy Cat is an enthusiastic contestant!

If you can’t see the above video, click here to watch it on YouTube! — and remember to go to The Friskies site and vote!
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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: Blue

Blue is my human’s least favorite color (she favors red, purple and black), so there isn’t a lot of blue around here. But there is quite a bit of blue in the Twinkle Chute we got a few weeks ago.

Look who’s here… and I thought getting photobombed once this week was 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,” 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!

Flashback Friday Fail

I had a handful of half-finished posts, but nothing finished for today so I thought it would be fun to do a random Flashback Friday post. So I went to my Photo Library, which is arranged by month and year, shut my eyes and just randomly picked a folder. It turned out to be May, 2007. So I eagerly opened up the folder to see what I was doing…

My human made an unfortunate purchase, and here I am, checking it out.

I had to go to the vet.

Worst of all, my human was hanging out with some artsy friend of hers, who gave her a hat… for me to wear!

The only good part of the month was that Binga had to wear the hat too.

I could have really done without reliving that month! If you want to see all of it, feel free to read my vintage post. As for me, I am not gonna look.
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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!

World Cat Day 2013

Happy World Cat Day! It’s yet another opportunity to celebrate how awesome we cats are. I was wondering what to post this year, but then I discovered I already had two great Cat World Day posts from 2010 and 2011:

World Cat Day… for Humans

There Has Been a Change to World Cat Day!

I pretty much said it all with these posts. So you know what? I’m taking the day off!

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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: (Mostly) Black and White

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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!

Kitty Bungalow’s A CATbaret… and Swag Giveaway!

Yes, I am having two giveaways in the same week! I am very excited about that. On Sunday night, I sent my human to the Belasco Theatre to represent me at the Kitty Bungalow A CATbaret event.

It was a very big deal — an event like this goes a long way to fund a rescue organization’s yearly operations. Kitty Bungalow headmistress Shawn Simons has an entertainment industry background, so she knew how to put together an amazing star-studded event!

But of course, I was more interested in any cats that happened to be in attendance — and there was one! It was Newton, whose human is a magician called the Fantastic Fig.

Before the show started, actor Tricia Helfer was given the Cat in White Spats Award by her Battlestar Galactica co-stars Edward James Olmos and Jamie Bamber. They looked on as she gave her speech — and talked about her cats.

The show was a revue of cat-themed song and dance numbers, like the one above featuring Modern Family’s Fred Willard. Other celebrities included Lori Alan, Keith David, Roshon Fegan, Kelley Jakle and Bethany Joy Lenz. There was a special area laid out for the bloggers, and my human hung out with Kate Benjamin from Hauspanther, Cokie the Cat’s human and Sophia Lauren, Alvarado, Chula and Mary Claire’s human.

One of the numbers that went over especially well involved humans dancing to “What’s New Pussycat?” while cat videos played on the screens.

The highlight for my human was seeing musical director Greg Haake conduct a cat-certo with Nora the Piano Cat on video.

It was an awesome show and when Shawn Simons came out front and center at the end to thank everyone, she looked very happy. Then there was an after party with an open bar, dessert bar and…

A swag bag! As you can see, Binga had to take a sneak peek.

My human even got a bag that was autographed by the cast! Thanks for the photobomb, Binga.

It was loaded with items from companies that included Nature’s Variety, By Nature, the Honest Kitchen, Kong, Popchips, Modern Cat magazine, NKLA, World’s Best Cat Litter and more!

Which brings me to my giveaway: I had my human set aside the best kitty stuff (she selfishly kept the human things) for a giveaway! Along with these food samplers, treats and toy, you get an autographed Kitty Bungalow bag like the one above because they actually gave my human two of them, one to give to my readers! And this time, all my readers can enter, since my human will send it where ever you are! Just enter with the Rafflecopter widget below — giveaway ends August 12 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’ll announce the winners for both the Fancy Feast and Kitty Bungalow A CATbaret swag next Tuesday!

Yes, we kept the Wishes Icelandic haddock filets because Boodie would not part with them.
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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!

Fancy Feast Delights With Cheddar Giveaway

Boodie! What are you doing!

How come I am the only cat around here with a sense of dignity? I have an important giveaway today and I am already embarrassed.

Fancy Feast has come out with new Delights With Cheddar Entrees in four flavors, each one with real cheddar: Salmon and Cheddar Cheese Feast, Turkey and Cheddar Cheese Feast, Beef and Cheddar Cheese Feast, and Chicken and Cheddar Cheese Feast! As you can see, Boodie is excited about these new entrees.

They sent us a can of each flavor, packed on a cool wooden cheeseboard with the Fancy Feast logo!

Plus a card about the new Entrees, perfect for chewing on! My human says it was not meant for that use, but I think she is lying.

And I have something really fun for you! The Fancy Feast humans said I could do a giveaway on my blog! In fact, they said I could give away 20 Fancy Feast Delights with Cheddar samplers like the one I got, with the four new entrees and the cheese board! Sadly, they said it was only for my U.S. readers, but you know I will do something for you international kitties and humans at some point… maybe even sooner than you think!

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Ends Sunday, August 11 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. I will announce winners next week!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you are on Pinterest, you also have a chance to win one of three trips for two (humans) to New York City to attend a Cheese Soiree and cooking class with Liz Thorpe! Enter the Fancy Feast “Cheese Affair Pin to Win” Sweepstakes on Pinterest — go to www.cheeseaffair.com for details. The sweepstakes closes on August 11.
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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!