Sparkle the Designer Cat's Blog, page 482
January 8, 2013
Tortie Tuesday: Playing the Cute Card
Can you believe that Binga has the humans totally duped into believing she is some cute bundle of fur?
She plays them like a violin… and she is Paganini!
She is really coming up with her next plan to cause mayhem.
She cannot be trusted!
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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!
January 7, 2013
The Kitty Law of Physics
Did you know that human science is completely different from feline science? It’s true — laws of nature that apply to humans do not necessarily apply to cats, and vice versa. Here is something from the feline side you humans might find useful: the Kitty Law of Physics.
Kitty Law of Physics
Two cats together make less trouble than one.
Many times, when humans bring home a kitten or a young adult cat, they are amazed by all the breakage, shredding and general pandemonium that ensues. All cats are quite talented at finding surprising ways to keep busy, and the younger ones often seem to have a special gift for mayhem. The main reason behind this unique ability is… boredom!
Even humans who set aside time each day for interactive play with their cats can’t keep them busy 24-7 — that is unless they are unemployed, never leave the house and have as much energy as a kitten. Wow. Think about it — wouldn’t a human under those conditions be bouncing off the walls too? But if you cooped up a pair of equally bored humans, most likely they would cause more trouble, causing additional destruction and maybe even teaming up for a life of online criminal activity. But the inverse is true of kitties. Bring a pair of energetic young cats together, and instead of hacking into corporate websites or getting into flame wars on geeky game forums, they are more likely to come up with fun ways to play together that turn out to be less potentially destructive than what they may come up with singularly. Plus two furry balls of energy will wear each other out and wind up getting on their humans’ nerves a lot less. Amazing, isn’t it?
Of course, this rule does not work out 100% as humans might expect. A pair of cats will still find things to destroy, and sometimes one cat will encourage another to break into the treat cabinet, but there are fewer of these incidents than if there was only one cat. So if you know someone who wants to bring home a kitten, encourage them to adopt two! If the kitties are not already pals, the rules of introduction still apply:
If you want pals, as opposed to a mentor-mentee relationship, the cats should be close in age.
Start off introductions slowly, if the cats don’t already know each other, and then go at the cats’ pace, not the human’s.
When the two cats are sharing space, fun rewards such as treats and playtime should be included.
Make sure there is enough room for each cat to have his or her own space. This can be accomplished by adding cat cubes, and creating vertical space by way of cat trees or carpeted shelves.
There should be multiple litter boxes for multiple cats, and each litter box should be in a place that offers easy escape, not crammed in somewhere where a cat could be ambushed by another cat. Even cats that get along may wind up having arguments sometimes.
And of course, science would be worthless without heart, so remember that when you adopt two cats, you are saving two lives instead of one!
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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! 
January 6, 2013
Sunday Catinee: Determination is 9/10s of Possession
Jed found the treats… and he is determined to keep them! But does he? You will just have to watch the video to find out! And stick around to the end — there is a little coda to the story.
If you can’t see the above video, click here to watch it on YouTube!
An interesting note about Jed: his human is Kim Clune, who co-founded Be the Change for Animals. One of their regular features is Blog the Change for Animals, held quarterly, in which anyone can blog about an animal cause they are passionate about. The first one of 2013 happens on Tuesday, January 15 — mark it down in your calendars!
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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! 
January 5, 2013
Photo Hunt: ADD
For this week’s Photo Hunt theme, ADD, I will explain how to tell if your human is ADD… as in Attention Deficit Disorder. It is easy — just look at their desk. Does it look scattered and messy, like my human’s? Then you have an ADD human!
Sometimes the clutter on her desk makes me want to scream, but I am told that yelling does not help humans with ADD.
It’s enough to make a kitty crazy.
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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!
January 4, 2013
Feral Friday: Stylish Homes for Homeless Cats
Check out these fabulous cat condos! They were designed by some of New York’s most prestigious architectural designers.
Photo by Lucio Santos/FXFOWLE
Photo by Lucio Santos/FXFOWLE
Photo by Dana Edelson
I bet your are wondering what kind of fortune a kitty has to pay to have one of these? Well, guess what — the answer is nothing. That’s because they are shelters for the homeless cats living in New York City. For the past three years, a project called Architects for Animals has been creating winter shelters to help protect New York’s feral cats from the elements. Each year, there is an exhibition and reception of these fabulous shelters, held by Architects for Animals and the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals to benefit the New York City Feral Cat Initiative.
The photos you see here are from the past two years. Last year, a lucky cat even got to pose in one of the shelters!
Photo by Christine Rangel
Photo by Christine Rangel
This year’s participating designers include: H3 Hardy Collaborative Architecture; Francis Cauffman Architects; M Moser Associates; Callison Barteluce; Stonehill & Taylor Architects, with a team of students from City College; Zimmerman Workshop; Kathryn Walton of The American Street Cat (TASC); and Pilot Projects Design Collective. The reception will be Thursday, January 10 from 6 to 8 PM at the Steelcase Showroom, 4 Columbus Circle, New York. The donation is $20, or $10 for Certified TNR Caretakers. If you live in the New York area, you must attend! You may even run into I Have Cat blogger, Tamar! Click on the banner below to RSVP.
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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! 
January 3, 2013
Copycatting
I decided to try something new for 2013 — I am learning how to do impressions! My first one will be Tardar Sauce, the Grumpy Cat! How’s this:
Or maybe this one:
Here is one more try:
Wow, this Grumpy business is harder than I thought! Maybe that is why Tard gets the big bucks.
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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!
January 2, 2013
Wordless Wednesday: Outtakes From New Year’s 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! 
January 1, 2013
Hungover Binga… Now as a Poster, T-Shirt and Greeting Card!
Everyone seemed to enjoy seeing Binga nipped out so much in my New Year’s Day post that I had my human make a poster out of it:
Hungover Tortoiseshell Cat Poster, 20″x16″
It is also a T-shirt:
And a greeting card!
Hungover Tortoiseshell Cat Greeting Card
Honestly? I am kind of relieved I did not let my human put that lampshade on 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! 
9 New Year’s Resolutions… for My Human
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 147,869 times — we kitties are perfect, so we do not need to make New Year’s resolutions! Well, maybe except for Binga — as you can see above, she had too much nip last night and woke up this morning on the floor with a lampshade on her head. But never mind her; this post is about being helpful by making New Year’s resolutions for our humans. I know some of your humans are gathering a list, but as is typical with them, they always leave off very important things.
Here are a few resolutions I know my human desperately needs, but would never think of on her own:
Make a schedule and stick to it — do you know how vexing it is when dinner is late?
Be more diligent about litter box duties. You are very lucky we are patient kitties.
Figure out how to sleep more restfully. Napping on top of you is like trying to get some shut-eye on a ship during a gale.
Clean up hairballs a little more cheerfully. It’s not the end of the world, and the way you act, you would think we did something wrong.
Learn how to laugh in a more ladylike fashion. The fact that your guffaws instantly clear the room of felines should give you a clue that this needs to change.
Play with me at least a couple of times a day. Stop making me jump on the desk and whap you to get your attention!
Ditto with brushing.
Ditto with treats. Seriously, you have no idea how tiresome all that whapping gets.
Quit buying stupid Halloween costumes for us cats. It’s an addiction, and it is not very pretty.
Do you have any good New Year’s resolutions for your humans? If you do, please share!
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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! 
December 31, 2012
Looking Back at 2012
It’s time to say good-bye to 2012 and raise a toast to 2013. But before I leave this year, I want to look back at some of the great times I had.
Remember my Valentines Day party? It was lots of fun and my kissing booth helped raise $50 for Kitten Rescue! I still have that kissing booth, by the way!
My human went to the Friskies Plus Playhouse — a kitty dream house that was the temporary home for rescue cats from MeoowzResQ! Many of these kitties got even luckier and found homes because of the extra publicity they received!
In addition to Boxing Day, December 26, there is also International Box Day in June, and I celebrated by doing a box version of the cult film Fight Club!
I was fortunate to land an interview with cat behaviorist and My Cat From Hell star Jackson Galaxy! I think that to this day, I am the only actual cat who has interviewed him!
Of course, the big news of 2012 was my tenth birthday on June 24, which coincidentally also happened to be Cat World Domination Day! Not only was it a lot of fun, my human made donations to Forever Home Feline Ranch, AniMeals and Cramar Cat Rescue and Sanctuary!
BlogPaws also happened during my birthday weekend! My human went to Salt Lake City as my representative… and she came home with this awesome Pet Fusion Scratch Lounger!
When my human went to the Cat Writers Conference (where she spoke about blogging), there were even more goodies! So much, in fact, that she wound up donating most of it. We got to keep a handful of toys and she saved a few for gifts.
Another fun event was the book signing pawty I had on Twitter in conjunction with Baby Patches! She sold a lot of books at her Nip and Bones store, and our pawty was a top trender on Twitter!
Of course, not everything was wonderful in 2012. There were some bad fashion choices.
But looking back, I think the most awesome thing that happened in 2012 was that I helped get this kitty rescued! The crazy thing is that he was in Canada, and I was in Los Angeles, and I heard about him from Jake’s human in Boston! But it turned out I knew of a rescue in the area and I also had a fan nearby! Thank you, Forever Home Cat Rescue and Mandi! You made my year!
What intentions will I set for 2013? I do want my books and Zazzle store to do better than ever… but even more, I want to see more cats rescued and more homes for the homeless! Please join me at midnight to make this wish come true!
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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! 
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