Blog Posts by Sarah D. Bunting

Singer, songwriter, half of Gnarls Barkley…comfy-lap impresario? Cee-Lo Green's cat Purrfect is taking the world (including the online portion) by storm since she started showing up on "The Voice" to "help" Cee-Lo judge contestants. Here's the scoop (pun intended) on Purrfect's backstage requirements, background, and beef with Blake Shelton.

1 "Purrfect" has more than 37,000 Twitter followers; her listed location is "@ceelogreen's lap."

2 She's a considered and retiring type; Cee-Lo has called Purrfect "a great listener," but "a little nonchalant about things."

3 Cee-Lo and Purrfect met about a year ago when she was still a kitten; she's his L.A. lap cat when he's away from his home base in Atlanta. Cee-Lo has always had felines in his life. He says Purrfect is "probably [his] twentieth cat."

4 Purrfect's appeared only in taped segments of "The Voice" so far – but look for her to make a couple of appearances on the upcoming live shows. It's not guaranteed, but Cee-Lo reports that she's

Ah, spring -- time for spring cleaning! Window-washing, mattress-turning, and of course tackling all those projects that seem a lot more fun and less forbidding when it's not snowy outside.

Hoping to rearrange your bathroom -- and hide the cat's bathroom? Need some new artwork for the kids' rooms? Sick of dropping good money on toy mice? We've collected 10 of our favorite DIY cat projects from around the web; you can start knitting, building, or writing algorithms this very weekend! Well, maybe not that last one.

Hide the litterbox in a closet
Cut down on odor issues – and increase your available bathroom floor space – by stashing the box in a closet. Just install a pet door in the closet door, and voila: Tiger has his own private w.c.

Give the box a shot of IKEA chic
We don't all have closet space to spare for the cat's private toileting needs – but if you live near an IKEA, maybe you can hide the box in plain sight. IKEAHackers.net contributor Romina and her husband turned IKEA's Besta

Be prepared. If you've seen skunks near where you live, heard stories about friends' pets getting skunked, or caught the unmistakable waft of skunk on a warm breeze, you should probably stock up on deskunking tools now, rather than get caught empty-handed. (Or, more accurately, with your hands full – of skunky pet. Boo.)

Robin Maurillo of the Auburn (NY) Citizen recommends a go bag with the following: Dawn dishwashing liquid, or another grease-fighting formulation (skunk spray is "very oily"); 3-percent hydrogen peroxide; baking soda; pet shampoo; rubber or latex gloves; old clothes. If you've seen a lot of skunks around or had pets get sprayed frequently in the past, consider putting together a "go bucket" near your back door so you can grab the deskunking kit in a hurry.

The best defense is…a good defense. Keep trash containers tightly sealed; remove extra or fallen fruit and seeds from trees and birdfeeders regularly; scatter mothballs at the edges of your property to deter skunks

Last week, Shine Pets went into the field with "Liam" (his name and those of the dogs have been changed), a dog-walker and dog-sitter in Brooklyn NY, to see firsthand a day in the life of a city dog-walker. We'd picked a perfect day for our excursion, weather-wise; spring had come early to New York City, with both dogs and humans around the borough eager to get out and soak up some sunshine – or, in the case of one of Liam's canine charges, lunge at children in a misguided attempt to make friends.

On our way to pick up the first dog on Liam's route -- Ruby, a stocky Puggle – Liam filled me in on his dog-walking background. He started in 2009, via his roommates at a rehearsal studio, although he was apprehensive about "the natural element" at first. "I grew up with asthma, so I wasn't outside much" as a kid, he said, adding, "I'm 120 pounds; the wind could take me."

But he's adjusted to the vagaries of New York weather – and New York pets. Dogs that get nippy or have other behavioral

HBO announced Wednesday that its horse-racing drama series, "Luck," would be cancelled following the death of a third horse during production. The horse was destroyed after a freak incident earlier this week; while being walked back to its stall by a groom, it reared up, then fell backwards, hitting its head. It had to be euthanized on-site at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, CA, where "Luck" had begun filming its second season.

"Luck," created by respected showrunner David Milch ("Deadwood"), examined the seedier side of the horse-racing world and featured acting luminaries like Nick Nolte, Joan Allen, and Dustin Hoffman, who played a crime kingpin. It has not earned impressive ratings numbers in its first season, but HBO had already renewed it for a second go-round.

Yahoo! Movies: Nolte, Mazursky reminisce about Mike the Dog, "Down and Out in Beverly Hills"

Not everyone was a fan, however – at least, not of the drama's treatment of its equine players. HBO claimed that it coordinated with

Yoda, 2011 World's Ugliest Dog, died on March 10. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, file)Yoda, the world's ugliest dog, died last weekend at age 15, it was reported today. The tiny fluffball – Yoda weighed just 1.8 pounds – joined The Force last Saturday; according to an AP report, she died peacefully in her sleep. The Hanford (California) Sentinel, Yoda's hometown paper, obtained an email from owner Terry Schumacher in which she mournfully bade her Picasso-faced pooch farewell: "Say a prayer today 4 my YODA...rest in peace 3-10-12. "She passed away last night in her sleep. I will miss her funny little ways! But comforted knowing she will be joining my Mom and Dad, who loved her so much! Her memories will live on forever!!!"

omg!: Aubrey O'Day's Dog Day Afternoon

Yoda, a Chihuahua/Chinese Crested mix, had a unique face that only a mother could love. Said mother, Schumacher, found Yoda behind an apartment building – and initially mistook the abandoned pooch for a rat. But with Schumacher's love and support, Yoda avenged herself, winning the (not very) coveted title of World's

Looks like no good Justin Bieber deed goes unpunished. The pop star with the famous hair brought a pet snake – a baby albino boa constrictor, "wittily" named "Johnson" – with him to last year's MTV Video Music Awards. Afterwards, Bieber auctioned the snake off for charity, with proceeds going to Pencils of Promise, an organization that funds schools and education in the developing world.

But not everyone approves of the way Bieber rehomed Johnson – especially not the eventual winner of the auction, Michael Kronick. In an E! News exclusive interview, Kronick sniffed that he's "amazed" the singer sold "his own personal pet," and he didn't stop there: "I found it really disgusting that celebrities like Bieber would stoop to a level of using living creatures as a fashion accessory and then so easily discard it."

Kronick bid on the snake hoping that he could donate Johnson to a zoo, and that's exactly what he did: Johnson is now a resident of the Reptile & Amphibian Discovery Zoo in

A Sacramento Bee reader wrote in to pet columnist Gina Spadafori recently to ask which breeds of cat work best for allergy sufferers. We'd assumed Spadafori, or any other pet expert, would recommend a hairless breed – after all, no cat hair, no allergies, right?

Not so fast. You may not know that it's not cat hair that causes allergies to felines; it's an ingredient in the cat's saliva, which is deposited on its fur or skin when it grooms itself. The saliva helps to create cat dander, which is usually the biggest issue in pet allergies. So if you think you can talk your super-allergic husband into getting a Sphynx, know in advance that that may not solve the problem.

VIDEO: Dog adopts abandoned kittens

Spadafori did mention that some individual cats seem to register less severely for those afflicted with cat-dander-related asthma and other allergies – lighter-colored female cats, for example, and some Siberian and Rex cats. Sounds kind of out-there, but the ingredient in cat saliva that