{"id":3917,"date":"2019-12-30T03:36:10","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T11:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=3917"},"modified":"2019-12-30T03:36:10","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T11:36:10","slug":"mindful-monday-whats-in-a-cats-name-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=3917","title":{"rendered":"Mindful Monday \u2013 What\u2019s in a CAT&#8217;s Name?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3858\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Molliedeck1-e1575031718192-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Molliedeck1-e1575031718192-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Molliedeck1-e1575031718192-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Molliedeck1-e1575031718192-375x500.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Molliedeck1-e1575031718192.jpg 1512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>When you adopt, rescue, purchase, or otherwise find yourself embracing a cat, do you struggle to name him or her? Or does the name just pop out as if the cat herself put it into your head? Does he send you mind-messages, \u201cI\u2019m Tuffy. I want to be Tuffy, \u2019cause I\u2019m a tuff cat.\u201d Or do you have a mishmash of names you\u2019ve saved over the years for just the right cat or kitten? Maybe you want to call her Lulu after another cat you once loved or you came across a cat with a cool name you&#8217;d like to use: Alpha-Cat, Cleopatra, Geisha, or Hello Kitty.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve used many different methods for naming a cat\u2014<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3829\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/cat-shopcat-vet-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/cat-shopcat-vet-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/cat-shopcat-vet-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/cat-shopcat-vet-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/cat-shopcat-vet.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>from practically picking out a cat to fit the name I\u2019ve been wanting to use, to observing the cat for several days to let her choose her own name.<\/p>\n<p>The most unique naming ritual I\u2019ve been involved in was the time my three small daughters couldn\u2019t agree on a name for our grey and white kitten. We decided to let the kitten choose her own name. So we wrote down about eight of their name choices on tiny slips of paper, wadded them up and tossed them in front of the kitten. We would give her the name written on the wad she played with first. Well, on that initial scattering of the paper wads, the kitten simply sat and stared at the wads. I guess she didn\u2019t like any of the names.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3818\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/KittensTiger-300x171.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/KittensTiger-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/KittensTiger-768x438.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/KittensTiger-500x285.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/KittensTiger.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Plan B: we dipped the wads in gravy and tossed them again. This time, the kitten ate the first one she approached before we could take it from her. Rather than open all the rest of the gravy-soaked pieces of paper to try determining which name she ate, we called that a foul and tossed the wads again. This time we grabbed her before she could eat the one she picked. We opened it and that\u2019s when we knew her name would be PomPom&#8211;my youngest daughter&#8217;s choice.<\/p>\n<p>One of the cats we rescued came with the name Katy. We already had a cat named Katy, so<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3645\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/tommyjanetcatpretty-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/tommyjanetcatpretty-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/tommyjanetcatpretty-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/tommyjanetcatpretty-500x281.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> we went to work trying to come up with a more appropriate name for the calico. We observed her for several days looking for clues as to the perfect name for her.<\/p>\n<p>This cat seemed always to be in the kitchen when we were. One evening when I entered the kitchen to start dinner, and the cat, as usual, joined me, I broke into song: \u201cSomeone\u2019s in the kitchen with Dinah\u2026\u201d And so it was that Dinah became her name.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2471\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/RookeyBox-e1516884271275-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/RookeyBox-e1516884271275-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/RookeyBox-e1516884271275-375x500.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/RookeyBox-e1516884271275.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>When we rescued a family of three kittens who\u2019d taken up residence in our woodpile, we gave them temporary names\u2014we didn\u2019t plan to keep any of them. We already had three cats. We would find homes for them. We called the girls, Braveheart and Bella and I tagged the beautiful snowshoe type male kitten, Creamy. Well, I thought he was a girl, for one thing. When we discovered he was a boy and that we would be keeping him, I had to find him a more fitting name and I was coming up against all kinds of brick walls.<\/p>\n<p>I looked for names everywhere and I finally found one at a grandson\u2019s high school graduation. I listened to the names of the students as they were called to receive their diplomas and when I heard Max, that one stuck.<\/p>\n<p>Do any of you have a name or a few names already picked for your next cat or dog? How do you choose a name for your pets?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you adopt, rescue, purchase, or otherwise find yourself embracing a cat, do you struggle to name him or her? Or does the name just pop out as if the cat herself put it into your head? Does he send &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=3917\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3917"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3918,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917\/revisions\/3918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}