(A Peruvian friend of ours wants to have 3 Guinea Pigs and call them Breakfast,, Lunch and Dinner )
I heard of a family that bought three baby pigs to raise for food. To make sure that the children understood that these were not pets, they were named Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.
My two tortoishell cats are long gone now but when they were kittens I asked them what they wanted to be called. Millie answered first and Melf, though tiny always sounded like she smoked 40 a day. They both lived happy lives well into their twenties and I miss them a lot.
I now have a new cat (after the sad passing of my sweet Lissa last April). A grey tabby, and not at all what I was looking for, but she has had a hard life and she needed a safe home. And I can't turn down a plea like that. My beloved Burnie Of Blessed Memory came to me in a similar way. This new cat's prior owner (who had other cats who picked on her--so not a safe home) called her Gabby because she talked so much.
The problem is that my Lissa was a champion talker: an incredible range of noises. And pretty much incessantly except when she slept. There is No Way I would call any cat "Gabby" after having my sweet Lissa (and, honestly, "Gabby"--while more talkative than the Average Cat--has proven to be nowhere near Lissa's league). But I didn't want to change the name too much, so I just extended her name to "Gabriela."
I have had her a month and she is still skittish around me. I can't blame her. She has a lot of terrorizing in her background. It will take some time to convince her she is safe with me.
I have had her a month and she is still skittish around me. I can't blame her. She has a lot of terrorizing in her background. It will take some time to convince her she is safe with me.
I suggest the Slow Blink and also trilling, the way a mother cat does to her kittens.
@Hedgehog I like ChastMastrs ideas about settling your kitty. We had a skittish one, Monet, who came to us about 10 years ago. He was bitey and scratchy and almost seemed to pick a fight every time we stroked him. I had wondered whether he had been badly mistreated when young as he came from a local shelter.
Fast forward to now, he's still in love with Cheery husband but does accept me now. It's good to get a bit of recognition for doing the food and cleaning up after the other end! He's still a bit aggro with son when he ignores the stop it cues he gives. He trills to me every morning to demand his treats and I trill back to him. He permits pats now and will jump into my lap, but will only sit beside me on the couch. In some ways I'm glad of that because he's a big cat!
(A Peruvian friend of ours wants to have 3 Guinea Pigs and call them Breakfast,, Lunch and Dinner )
I heard of a family that bought three baby pigs to raise for food. To make sure that the children understood that these were not pets, they were named Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.
I think the parents of the family over the road wished they had done something similar when they first bought their hens, which are all now beloved pets.
I give them all my empty egg cartons, which are sometimes returned with eggs in them.
I like the street I live in - there is a good sense of community. My next door neighbours invited me to use their WiFi, which I am now doing.
Wow, Huia it sounds like you have really lovely neighbours. How lovely to get really fresh eggs from local hens, that is a real bonus! A good way of getting rid of excess egg cartons too, which is helpful, I am sure your neighbours really appreciate those.
It seems as though chickens are becoming more popular as pets and also as a way of helping with gardens and improving soil and disposing of veggie scraps. I don't think I can consider my worm farm to be pets though!
Fortunately foxes were not introduced here. They would have wreaked havoc on our native birds, many of which nest on the ground. It's bad enough having possums and rabbits, which are both destructive in their own ways.
We used to keep hens, which we did not name, but couldn’t free range them in our garden as the foxes round here would wander past you in the garden at 3pm! We built a big walk-in covered run. Our neighbours currently have hens too.
We've fallen into the habit of giving our pets names from the Arthurian mythos: past ones include Merlin, Morgan, Olwen. Our new dog is named Dinadan, who has always been my favorite second-tier Round Table knight.
I recently got my first cat. There’s a bit of a story about her relating to her name. My much beloved dog Pooka died about a year ago and I have not been able to get a new dog because my shift work and work hours wouldn’t be fair on a dog. So one Saturday morning about a month ago I decided I should get a cat - more independent than a dog but still furry company. That afternoon on my instagram feed up popped a post from the shelter of a 2yo cat named Pooka. Now I couldn’t leave a Pooka without a home, even if that was just the name the shelter gave her. But I also couldn’t have another pet named Pooka. So I went and met the cat and as far as I could tell she seemed nice. So I arranged to adopt her.
Now my also much beloved grandma who had not really been present in her body for the last few years had died a few weeks earlier. So I thought I would name my little cat Norma after my grandma. My grandma didn’t like cats but I thought she would have laughed at the idea that I went and got a cat and named it after her three weeks after her funeral. Luckily my mother and uncle agreed. So Norma it is.
An update on Gabriela (see March 31 post). She is warming up to me. She also has developed a daily routine of chasing her tail for fun--except that she never does it except when she is on the stairs, so that she can chase her tail and tumble down the stairs simultaneously.
Realizing that she might not be the smartest cat I have ever owned, her name has been expanded (affectionately) to "Gabriela Fluff-For-Brains."
My dog is the most perfect best friend there could be - Dogs Trust smashed it out of the park when they suggested that of the dogs I’d applied for this little Jack Russell Terrier would be the one that matched me best. She was a stray, aged maybe 3, found with no chip or collar (legal requirements in the U.K.) with two other young dogs, aged between 1 & 2 who they were assuming to be her puppies, also unchipped, uncollared and Jack Russell types. They had named her Primrose, but she hadn’t been there long, so it wasn’t really a name she knew, and wasn’t exactly something easy to call for in a park, so it was no problem to change it.
I’d been considering & planning getting a dog for a couple of years, and for a girl I’d narrowed names down by picking names from Star Trek characters I loved and then finding two-syllable ones easy to call & easy for a dog to hear. The top three were Kira Nerys (Deep Space Nine, could’ve used either of her names really, but probably Kira) Tendi (Lower Decks), and if neither of those seemed to fit the reserve choice was Scully (as in Dana Scully of the X-Files).
[Boy dog name would have been Worf, because then doggo could introduce himself!]
I went with Tendi - our meets at the shelter weren’t hugfest love at first sight affairs, knowing her now I see how shut down she was, but I got the impression that we could work and grow together to be a great wee partnership. Tendi seemed to suit her best, so that’s what I went with.
The character D’Vana Tendi is hugely intelligent, massively enthusiastic, keen, eager to learn, optimistic, an excellent friend - loyal to her friends and always excited to welcome new friends. She’s also a secret incredible badass! Turns out she was the perfect character to name my wee Tendi after - we have been best friends & family since the day she arrived at home, and she’s massively improved my mother & I’s relationship too (I am living in my mother’s house due to stuff).
Tendi is a great wee dog, who makes every day better, and I simply could not love her more! She is my little furry world.
I love that your dear dog is named Tendi, @luvanddaisies! Lower Decks is one of my favorite shows and Tendi is all that you said. Your Tendi sounds like a perfect furry family member!
Lower Decks is awesome! As well as all the Trek goodness it also gives me vibes from my time working on tall ships as a bosun / bosuns mate / deckhand doing all the maintenance and making it go jobs while the deck officers told us what to do 😆
My wee Tendi is indeed the most perfect family member 😁, I love her so much it hurts!
Comments
I heard of a family that bought three baby pigs to raise for food. To make sure that the children understood that these were not pets, they were named Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.
The problem is that my Lissa was a champion talker: an incredible range of noises. And pretty much incessantly except when she slept. There is No Way I would call any cat "Gabby" after having my sweet Lissa (and, honestly, "Gabby"--while more talkative than the Average Cat--has proven to be nowhere near Lissa's league). But I didn't want to change the name too much, so I just extended her name to "Gabriela."
I have had her a month and she is still skittish around me. I can't blame her. She has a lot of terrorizing in her background. It will take some time to convince her she is safe with me.
I suggest the Slow Blink and also trilling, the way a mother cat does to her kittens.
Fast forward to now, he's still in love with Cheery husband but does accept me now. It's good to get a bit of recognition for doing the food and cleaning up after the other end! He's still a bit aggro with son when he ignores the stop it cues he gives. He trills to me every morning to demand his treats and I trill back to him. He permits pats now and will jump into my lap, but will only sit beside me on the couch. In some ways I'm glad of that because he's a big cat!
I am loving the stories of everyone's pets.
I think the parents of the family over the road wished they had done something similar when they first bought their hens, which are all now beloved pets.
I give them all my empty egg cartons, which are sometimes returned with eggs in them.
I like the street I live in - there is a good sense of community. My next door neighbours invited me to use their WiFi, which I am now doing.
It seems as though chickens are becoming more popular as pets and also as a way of helping with gardens and improving soil and disposing of veggie scraps. I don't think I can consider my worm farm to be pets though!
Now my also much beloved grandma who had not really been present in her body for the last few years had died a few weeks earlier. So I thought I would name my little cat Norma after my grandma. My grandma didn’t like cats but I thought she would have laughed at the idea that I went and got a cat and named it after her three weeks after her funeral. Luckily my mother and uncle agreed. So Norma it is.
Realizing that she might not be the smartest cat I have ever owned, her name has been expanded (affectionately) to "Gabriela Fluff-For-Brains."
I’d been considering & planning getting a dog for a couple of years, and for a girl I’d narrowed names down by picking names from Star Trek characters I loved and then finding two-syllable ones easy to call & easy for a dog to hear. The top three were Kira Nerys (Deep Space Nine, could’ve used either of her names really, but probably Kira) Tendi (Lower Decks), and if neither of those seemed to fit the reserve choice was Scully (as in Dana Scully of the X-Files).
[Boy dog name would have been Worf, because then doggo could introduce himself!]
I went with Tendi - our meets at the shelter weren’t hugfest love at first sight affairs, knowing her now I see how shut down she was, but I got the impression that we could work and grow together to be a great wee partnership. Tendi seemed to suit her best, so that’s what I went with.
The character D’Vana Tendi is hugely intelligent, massively enthusiastic, keen, eager to learn, optimistic, an excellent friend - loyal to her friends and always excited to welcome new friends. She’s also a secret incredible badass! Turns out she was the perfect character to name my wee Tendi after - we have been best friends & family since the day she arrived at home, and she’s massively improved my mother & I’s relationship too (I am living in my mother’s house due to stuff).
Tendi is a great wee dog, who makes every day better, and I simply could not love her more! She is my little furry world.
My wee Tendi is indeed the most perfect family member 😁, I love her so much it hurts!