Well,we've been feeding a feral for over a year and finally he is making up to us. When I saw him in the distance I'd say..hello feral cat. Now that he is becoming friendly,he knows the word feral..so his name is...Ta Da....Ferrill. Not very imaginative I know,but what do you expect from someone who named a bat foundling...Batman?

Mrs.McAfee was named after a woman I liked who was admiring of the catten in my toddler-sized arms. ChiChi named himself, that being the prefacing sound he made whenever addressing remarks to me; also the only name he would answer to when called. Cali was named by a young neighbor who was fascinated with the multi-colored fur, and that little girl soon became Cali's person. DC was originally entitled 'Prince' by DH1, but further acquaintance taught us that he truly was the Dumbest Cat in town. Mosby was named by my best friend because he was a rebel, wearing true Confederate grey fur and was an amazing tactician, especially when locating lodgings and confiscating edibles. Trina's formal name was Katerina, and named to rhyme with ballerina because she would stand up and then gracefully dance around on tiptoes whenever she heard Sinatra's "Dance, Ballerina, Dance". Unless she herself decides otherwise, the future feline friend will be named Penelope.

Pidge, I love hearing about your kitties. I can just feel the joy in your posts and I'm so happy for you.

As for cat naming contortions, well, I learned that telling my husband he could name the kitty as long as he followed three rules (1) the name has a "z" or "x" in it; 2) it has to be phonetically dissimilar enough from the names of our other animals; and 3) it has to be an obviously feminine name...) was essentially making a deal with the devil.

Izzy was easy. There is a naming convention among the Pudelpointer breeders that each litter should have names beginning with a sequentially progressive letter of the alphabet. Izzy (technically, "Killbuck's Isabella") was that breeder's "I" litter. Her three littermates all have "I" names as well.

Jazmyn came to us named Julie. She flunked out at the track for shyness, and, while she "knew" her name, she ran away any time anyone used it. We decided to change it because, while Julie is a lovely name for a person, it's a dumb name for a dog... plus a clean slate would help us change that ingraned behavior. We opted for the weird spelling because we didn't think it would matter since the only time you spell your dog's name is the first time you take her to the vet and when you fill out your annual dog park permit and license tags... little did I know that years later, people I met on the Internet would actually start calling me by my dog's name!

Pidge, I have a veterinarian friend, female, who is named Darcy. I think it's a great name. A friend of mine who adopted two little sister kittens named them Marble and Mabel.

Michelle, I also know someone named Jazmyn - she's the cook at the Blue Moose Cafe here and makes the best blueberry pancakes in town!

BATMAN???!!!! That's a good one, Marda?
Actually I was wondering if you had named Ferrill because he appears to be a permanent part of the menagerie.

Pidge, same thing happened with one of my kitties. I'd brought home what I thought was one male and one female. After the first visit at the vet we were challeneged with finding a new name for "Lizzie." Unfortunately we never came up with anything better and it stuck. Mr. Lizzie was with us for nearly 14 years.

I currently have Annie, Lyric, Portia and Emma. Emma came to me with her first name. I added a middle name -- Skye -- to reflect her newly adopted family heritage. We're allegedely part of the MacDonald Clan which is based on the Isle of Skye off the west coast of Scotland.

Good grief. I need to get a life. lol

Karen

Karen, it's our kitties, or any other pets, that give definiton to our lives.

Pidge, removing a male cat's testicles does not turn him into a female. What you have is a neutered male cat. Don't mean to be know it all just stating the facts. Steve in Baltimore

Steve, I don't believe she is saying that she "de-balled" the cat, but rather that the kitten, whom she had assumed to be male, turned out to not be so equipped at all!

Sorry if I wasn't clear, Steve. I meant "sex change" facetiously. He'll be neutered, she'll be spayed in about a month. And they will also be microchipped even though they will be inside cats. I don't want them to get and get lost, and the chips will enable us to recover them should that happen.

Yes that is one good idea, We let our last pair outside until they showed up with fleas. They spent the rest of their lives inside but seemed to be quite content to do so. Steve in Baltimore County.

LOL! Wow! Was I off on that one!

#3 son let his children have two bunnies on the condition that they be both of the same sex. Pet Store picked out two males. Big surprise one day. Lot's of little bunnies. Before they could decide what to do with all of them, there were a lot more. Those little critters can really reproduce!!!!

He'll never trust a pet store again!!

It's hard to sex a kitten. I've made that mistake myself & had a Peppermint Patty turn into a Spike. The personality stayed the same, but the gender was definitely different.

Me, too! I adopted what I was told were the last 2 male kittens from a litter, one black & white, one orange tabby. Since this was back in my rodeo days, I named one Waylon and the other Willie, after Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Everything was just dandy until Willie decided to have three little kittens one day...which I promptly called Winkin, Blinkin and Nod.

I've temporarily named the 5 babies...first born is Screamer (it was born screaming!), the black one is Boo, the marmalade tabby is Stud, the calico with the white mask is Ms. Z (can't name a girl Zorro!), and the other calico is called Sweetie (just because she is).

There must be a rule that says I shouldn't have to part with them if I've already named them, right? Sigh...

Maryanne

On my way to Florida to visit my DD and will try to sex her cats. She also thought she had two males but now thinks Stewart (Stewie) is a female. I've emailed her diagrams etc. but she still isn't sure lol. Don't think a name change is in the plans.

My DS and his spouse had a kitten, female, they said, and they kept putting off having her spayed and she got pretty big, so I said: get her spayed right away and I will pay for it - they did and it turned out the cat was a fat male
He got neutered on my nickel, but much less costly than spaying LOL

My best friend had a couple of kittens left from a litter.
Sucker that I was, I brought them home.
She kept calling them the girls so I thought they were both females.
I took them to the vet and he quickly determined that they
were the boys.

Maryanne, you could have named her Zorrette.
Michelle, the name Jaz suits your personality.
Pidge, when I read your post I immediately thought of
Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy and decided that there must be a new movie coming out. LOL
Karen, Emma is a little angel, she has a lovely name.

I'm so envious of all your cats...I'd love to have a kitten or an older cat but DH has gone thru one broken hip and replacement due to a fall and I have very poor vision. The lovely way a cat entwines around your feet while walking ...or the way they love to pounce playfully from a hiding place...just can't risk it.

A little off-topic but I mentioned in an earlier thread our Amazon Parrot "Bird". About 4 years ago I found her a good new home thru our vet who had trimmed her nails and wingtips for years. (Bird was 13 at that time, raised from a 2-month old baby by me.) As we slowed our activity and had fewer guests, she became quieter and less active. I could see her joy when our parttime houskeeper arrived or a repairman. Her favorite was my son who played "drums" for her...she had always loved his rockband practice in the back bedroom and sang right along LOL Anyway, I knew she needed more activity around her plus a younger caretaker as Parrots can live to 50 years or more. She now lives in a house with other birds and 2 teens who have been around birds all their lives so I know Bird is happier. For awhile I got updates and invites to come see the dedicated birdroom with access to balcony turned into outdoor aviary but I just couldn't go. When we moved I decided not to stay in touch. I miss her so.

Guess I just wanted to say enjoy your pets...we had lovely cats while my son was growing up named Cat and Momma Cat (one of her only and unexpected litter of kittens "Growler" was adopted by a vet assistant who sent photos to my son for awhile). Those two lived into their late teens. Afterwards we just enjoyed the neighbor's big rabbit who often escaped his cage and headed straight for our overgrown yard. They always knew where to look for him. He must have weighed near 40 pounds.

Just rambling but I so enjoyed this thread...brought back many good memories. josh

We had an old stray that took up with us. Named her Cat. The next stray was called Kit. The third was Kaboodle.

So we had the whole Cat Kit and Kaboodle.

Kaboodle (Boodle for short) was the biggest black cat that I ever saw. I am sure it was a neutered male. Not fat, but BIG. Long legs, large, slender body and a tail that seemed to reach to the sky. He was hit by a car and people got out and looked at the body because it was so big that they thought they had managed to hit some kind of wild panther (in the wilds of Georgia???LOL)

All pets welcome on this site, Josh. Sounds like those bird friends who took Bird are amazing.
And Agnes, Kaboodle sounds like such a winner. So sorry he died in such a grim way.
Maryanne! Those kittens sound wonderful and evry name sounds so "just right." It will be hard to let them go, I know, but what a great time you are having with them in the meantime. You know lots of people and I'll bet there are plenty of homes waiting for one of those little critters. Take pictures so their memory can always be with you. Well, memories of the ones you let go, anyway. If you had to choose which one to keep, I'll bet you could go half nuts, right?
Janis, Darcie was originally named for Austen's Mr. Darcy as you have probably guessed. Now that I'm spelling the name with an "ie" it feels just right for this pretty little girl.

There must be a rule that says I shouldn't have to part with them if I've already named them, right? Sigh

Maryanne, be careful. That kind of thinking leads to becoming the crazy cat lady, believe me I know. Luckily our excess are all barn cats & not indoors, but I'm still glad that we've got three acres & most of the cats are black so that the neighbors really can't be sure just how many there are.

Needless to say we don't have a rodent (or snake) problem around here

I had a cat who I named Bob Cat, turned out to be Bobbie Cat but she lived 16 years as Bob. My new kittens Oreo and Kreem are definately brother and sister. I've had them 6 weeks now so they are 9 weeks old. they are like little cats now so the older cars are playing with them.
Marta, the bird is a crow who lives with his mate and flock now. He comes by and says hi but dosen't come close to us because now that he is wild I guess it isn't the right thing to do lol

Josh, I had an Amazon Parrot named "Birdy Bird" for a brief time. I fostered him for about six months until his owner got situated in a new state.

He was an amazing creature - talked quite a bit and could be very feisty but then he had a really sweet side and would sometimes make sweeting cooing sounds if you got close to the case the spoke softly to him.

I bet you do miss your old friend, but you made a very kind and loving choice for him.

Sheila, Bird talked ....a lot! ...I had decided before getting her that if she didn't I wouldn't care but I was lucky. Bought her when our only son went away to school...guess I was afraid of that "empty nest" syndrome...LOL

They are great companions and like all pets repay the hours of care ...the more time you can devote the more the reward. Bird had her own perch in my shower and in the kitchen...but her favorite was on my shoulder.

Andie...love the black cats/neighbor remark...but I'm glad to see our neighbor's cats visiting here. We just make sure to hang the bird feeders very high and place birdbaths carefully away from shrubs but near trees so birds are safer. We feed the squirrels and chipmunks too so we do have a few "pets". josh

Mr. Minnie showed up during a fundraiser we were having and was running backand forth through the links in a chain link fence. He was so small then you could hold him in the palm of your hand. We miss took him for a female and named him Minnie then found out a few weeks later he was Mr. Minnie. He is not so small any more either.

Cat

The fat cat on the mat
may seem to dream
of nice mice that suffice
for him, or cream;
but he free, maybe,
walks in thought
unbowed, proud, where loud
roared and fought
his kin, lean and slim,
or deep in den
in the East feasted on beasts
and tender men.
The giant lion with iron
claw in paw,
and huge ruthless tooth
in gory jaw;
the pard dark-starred,
fleet upon feet,
that oft soft from aloft
leaps upon his meat
where woods loom in gloom --
far now they be,
fierce and free,
and tamed is he;
but fat cat on the mat
kept as a pet
he does not forget.

-- J. R. R. Tolkien

{{gwi:187800}}

LOL, don, what a bruiser Mr. Minnie is. Looks like he's just put down his paper, is about to light up his cigar and deliver some words of wisdom to the viewer.
You have great cats!

LOL, he looks imposing but is the sweetest one of the bunch. Glad you got a giggle.