Has anyone adopted a pet & then changed the pet's name?

[walden]

"The naming of cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES."
T.S. Elliot, The Naming of Cats, from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist -- it is one of my favorite poems!

It is actually easy to change the name of a cat or dog. Name, treat. Name, treat. Name, dinner! They catch on really quickly even when quite senior.

If you read the poem you will know that a cat doesn't care what humans call him of her. Their real name is secret and ineffable, effable, effanineffable, deep, inscrutable and singular!

 

[iwrbnd]

No, but I wanted to! When we adopted our dog he was already named Teddy. I know they meant teddy bear but my dirty mind always went somewhere else whenever I called him! (He's in my signature...isn't he cute?)

 

[daisax]

I don't think it matters for cats, but people seldom end up calling dogs by the names they actually give them themselves. Most dogs I know have multiple nicknames, some very "schmoopy" baby talk names -- the dog knows when you're talking to him because dogs usually keep an eye on you.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We adopted 2 cats last year when our Grumpy died.

They came with names--but we accidentally changed one--b/c we forgot what it was.

One day, I had to take her to the vet we adopted it from and they had a different name on file.

The name change was a success, but she was a younger cat and I believe she was a stray, so she probably didn't have that name for very long.

Plus the name we called her was kind of close to the other name. Started with the same letter and had the same number of syllables.

 

[ChristaDeVil]

We adopted an 18 month old pug and changed her name from "Penny" to "Margot Tenenbaum". We had a weird experience with a lady named Penny a few years ago and just couldn't do that. (Margot Tenenbaum is my favorite character from my favorite movie - The Royal Tenenbaums, fyi)

She answered to "Margot" within a couple of days.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

i got one of my cats almost a year ago from the local SPCA and her name was originally Marley but DH and i didn't care for it, we changed it to Meg. she didn't really respond to Marely, anyway.

well...she doesn't really respond to Meg, anymore, either....she's a bit on the chunky side so we call her chunky monkey and that's what she responds to

 

[misha-ginger]

A few years ago we adopted a cat and really disliked her name (pompom). So for a few weeks we called her pompom-ginger, then just dropped the pompom and called her ginger. She learnt her name and had no problems afterwards.

 

[babytrees]

When we adopted Pearl she was an older cat (estimated at the time to be 6....the vet thinks she's at least a year older than that) and the rescue group had her for more than 6 months and who knows up to that point what or where she was. We thought, for 2 seconds, about changing her name...but she responds to Pearl and almost nothing else (except Queen...which is what she is) . I have never had a cat that only responds to their name...until her...when we were choosing we were torn between her and a kitten...I can't imagine my life without her.

Now our ferret on the other hand...we never knew his name because he just showed up on our porch...while we spent the alloted 2 weeks trying to find his owners (worked with a ferret rescue group) I wouldn't let the girls call him a "name" so they called him Dude....guess what his name is now? yup, Dude

 

[denisem]

We kept the names our cats had when we acquired them, but find they also respond to the various nicknames we've given.

But if you REALLY want their attention, all we have to say is "Eat-eat? Let's go now?".

 

[samshane]

We adopted a cat and a dog (at different times) from rescue groups - kids wanted to keep their names. To this day I wished we had changed them. The cat doesn't respond to her name at all - LOL. But the dog responds to his - expect no one else can figure out how to say it (Quino - pronounced like Keno).

We did adopted a dog from the pound who was 2-3yrs old when he was found wandering the streets. Have no clue what his name was for those years, but the minute I saw him I called him "Buddy" - he just *looked* like a Buddy (it was a city pound and he had no name - just "stray"). We have had him 4+ yrs now and he started responding to Buddy within a month or 2 of us adopting him.

 

[Imzadi]

So Imzadi, was that name speshul snowflake?

err... I mean -> <feigning insult on Kitty's behalf.>

Now, now, you know, we on the DIS have no speshul snowflake children, spouses or pets of our own.

 

[Feralpeg]

When I adopted my two black lab puppies, their names were Ike and Tina. No way did I want an animal name after Ike Turner. Their names are now Merlin and Willow.

 

[Silent1CB]

Our neighbor is moving & cannot take her cat with her, so we are considering taking in it. However, we all really don't like the cat's name! Has anyone ever adopted a pet & successfully changed it's name?

Yes, lots of people do it. Vet had no problem handling the name change on the records & neither did the town for licencing even though rabies & neuter records where in prior name.

The animal doesn't listen to us anyway. No matter what we call him.

 

[Silent1CB]

That is soooo not true!

This my & my cat's true story:

I had been thinking for a long while of getting a kitten. I thought when I get one, I'm going to name her Sabrina , like the Audrey Hepburn movie. Also the Harrison Ford remake.

I looked around, spotted my kitty online at the neighboring county's shelter, 40 miles away, and went to pick her up.

What I should have done was walk down the aisle of cats and called out, "Sabrina!" and then taken home a cat that answered to that name.

Instead, I took my kitten home. I started calling her Sabrina, and she'd have none of it. (She was from a litter of strays and didn't even know how to use kitty litter, so it's not like someone else named her first.

She just wouldn't answer to that name. In fact, when I called her Sabrina, she'd purposely look away, with an expression of, "That's NOT my name. Quit calling me that." Or, she would simply ignore me, like I wasn't even there, holding a dish of smelly cat food.

So, for 3 months, I tried to figure out what her name was. Calling out every name I could think of, that I actually liked. No way was she going to be called a name that I hated. She reacted pretty much the same way to all the names. "I hope you aren't talking to me, because that's not my name."

Finally, I was down to the last couple names that I liked. I remembered a name that I always loved, but completely forgot about.

My kitty was looking the other way. As soon as I called her that, my kitty turned, looked right over at me inquisitively, "Yes? Did you want something?" she even got up and came right over to me. I figured out her name! In all the years since, she has NEVER not responded to that name. That's her name. And I don't have to hold cat food out to her to prove it.

Could you figure out my youngest ones name, but he doesn't answer to anything. He's kind of aloof. lol And I have a hard time remembering their names & keep mixing them up.

The vet & the town said I could change their names AGAIN since I was having hard time picking names since we didn't know their personalities yet since they were young. They might have different names by the next time we go back. lol

 

[Cinderella94]

We adopted two cats and changed both of their names (Angel to Daisy and Brady/Bradley to Woody). They don't pay a lick of attention to what we call them anyway .

 

[dauser]

I currently have 2 rescue cats.

One was re-named from Shiloh to Zoe.

The other was re-named from Kitty to C.C. (a.k.a. Charity Case or Crazy Cat).

Everyone is happy with these decisions.

 

[minniecarousel]

yup - our two adoped adult cats were named "Mr. Kitty" & "Smokey". They became Tigger & Simba. (poor Tigger is more like Eeyore, though!)

And we have found that cats aren't too attached to their names.

 

[Cat0727]

Yep, we adopted our dog from the shelter and his name there was Lautrec, (after the French painter) and re-named him to Timo, which he knows 100%. He was only at the shelter for a couple of days, though.

 

[hereyago]

One of my pups was originally named Wizzer-he was a pee boy. Before I knew his original name, I knew I was going to name him out of 3 names I picked. He became Nikita.

Our kitten is named Nubbs, he only has part of a tail, so Nubbs it will stay.

 

[EllaM]

The kitties we adopted last month were originally named Cruella and Tina. "Cruella" was too sweet to deserve such a mean name so I renamed her "Bella". I have a thing against giving an animal a human name so "Tina" had to go. We studied her behavior for a while and came up with the name "Cricket" (because she loves to hide and come out later to hunt).

After a few days, they started responding to the sound of our voices. Within a week or two they knew their names.

But honestly, they come running faster when they hear the treat bag rustle or the food dishes come out. And I think they just respond to the sound of our voices. It doesn't matter what we say but how we say it. I can say in the sweetest most inviting tone, "Come here you little scumbag so I can scratch your little eyes out." and they'll come running to me purring. Makes you wonder what animals are really thinking/saying in their language doesn't it?