I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It’s not. Mine had me trained in two days. (Bill Dana)
Thanks to all of you who suggested great names for the puppy in the picture I posted on Wednesday. Everybody agreed she was very cute. I guess I should have told you the puppy was a girl, but it didn’t really matter. Names came in for both boy puppies and girl puppies. The interesting thing was that none of the thirty plus suggested names was the name I gave her. Lucy. She was one of a litter of pups that a neighbor’s dog came over and had in our garage. The neighbor wasn’t interested in collecting the eight or so puppies and carrying them home. So I undertook the job of finding them homes.
And of course, the grandkids loved all the puppies. They insisted I needed to keep one of them and so I had two I really liked. One Lucy and one a cute little brown puppy. I always wondered if I should have kept the other one. Lucy was sweet enough but she had too much beagle in her. She wanted to go hunting all the time. I mean all the time. I didn’t build a fence for her the way I have for Frankie. And off Lucy went , hunting. Then one day, she came home all beat up with major injuries that required a vet, stitches, much care and big bills. She got better and off she went hunting again. I should have given her to somebody with a fence. One day she didn’t come home. I looked for her with no success. I hoped she found a better house – one with that fence she needed. And I still wondered about that little brown puppy. But then I got Oscar and all was good. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on my very good dog, Oscar.
Name a New Pet
So now you get to name a new pet. This time how about naming a cat.
“What’s your name,’ Coraline asked the cat. ‘Look, I’m Coraline. Okay?’
‘Cats don’t have names,’ it said.
‘No?’ said Coraline.
‘No,’ said the cat. ‘Now you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names.” (Neil Gaiman, Coraline)
So maybe the cats don’t need names for themselves, but we need names for them. One of my sisters used to live on a farm and every cat in the neighborhood soon found out her house was the place to go for shelter and food. She had dozens of outside cats and she named every one of them. I think they liked it. I know they liked living on my sister’s farm. She took many of them to be altered to slow down the population growth. The cat up top is not one of her cats. But he needs a name.
Leave your name suggestion in a comment here on my blog post and you’ll get an entry into a book giveaway, open only to those who do make comments here. Even if you suggested a name for my Lucy pup, you can get another entry in my drawing hat by coming up with the perfect name for this gray and white cat. I’m going to let you guess whether this is a male or female cat. That will let you imagine the cat you want to imagine as you come up with the right name. The deadline to enter is May 11, 2018 at midnight EST. You must be at least eighteen to enter, but feel free to ask your kids and grandkids for naming advice. Three winners will get their choice of one of my books and a grab bag book from my overstuffed bookshelves. So leave your guess and check back middle of the week for another pet to name. Hmm, wonder what next.
Again thanks for reading and for all the names for the puppy. You came up with some great names and most of you suggested different names. Some went by the color, Rusty, Brownie, Milky Way, S’mores, and even Ovaltine. Chocolate Ovaltine. The most popular name was Blu/Blue because of the puppy’s eyes. All the names were great. I liked Banjo and Blossom. There were very few repeats. You all are unique thinkers. So I have plenty of names if I want to name a puppy in one of my books.
So what would you name the cat?
Comments 44
Lucky, my daughter says Tigger (our cat’s name.)
Author
You tell your daughter that Tigger is always a great cat name. My sister had a cat named Tigger once, actually her cat before this one. Lucky is a good name for any pet if they find a good home, April.
Author
Fun names, Julie and Connie. I named one of my Shaker book characters Lacey. That’s a popular name for heroines I found out later. Julie, flower names can give you many options. Clover is nice.
Fuzzy. That’s what my six year old would name the cat.
Author
Sounds like your 6 year old has a good “feel” for cats and their names, MJSH. Thanks for the smile.
I started naming my cats Flower names. I think this furry fella I would name him Clover.
I’ll say Lacey or Leo.
Author
Wow, you people are good pet namers. Love all the names you’ve suggested. This cat must have a regal look from all those who have suggested regal names like Princess, Regal, Victoria, Louie (after the new prince). And Churchill and Talbott have a distinguished sound too. Linda suggested naming the cat Annie after me. Pat and Nancy think the cat is politely sitting still because it is a girl. L thinks this cat looks more like a Lucy than my little dog. So many great suggestions. Thanks for stopping by to name the cat.
Oh my, what a sweet, polite little person! May I suggest Alice?
I would name her Matilda or Bootsie ! She is a beautiful cat !
The first name that popped in my head when I really looked at the cat was Moses so I hope it’s a boy!
I would name him Spencer if he is indeed a boy.
Missy. That’s what she (?) looks like to me.
Socks … the grey parts on front paws look like socks.
Author
I was waiting for somebody to say Socks, Megan, because of the cat’s matching front legs. 🙂
I would totally name a cat Jack. I think it works for either gender (Jacquelyn or Jackson for “full names”) and it’s just an overall mischievous sounding name
which perfectly fits almost every cat ever.
Author
When I first got the dog hunger as a little kid, Beth, I planned to name my dog Jack when I finally got one. Then I didn’t because I thought I would majorly compliment the man who gave me the dog by named it Ollie after him. It was a good name, but the man wasn’t majorly complimented. 🙂 I was very young. I thought having a dog named after you was the best thing ever. You are certainly right about most cats.
Smokey for male and Prissy for a female
I would name the cat Miss Marple if a girl and Talbot if a boy.
We have around twenty cats on our farm. Most of them are orange, a few calico, a few orange-and-white tabbies, and one very pale orange cat. Almost all of them are named too. Their names include Pudge, Cara, Smokey, Aloha, Bernice, Feather, Mr. It, Munchkin, Midget, Beaumont, and Coriander. My siblings and I love to name the new kitten litters every spring. 🙂
Author
Elizabeth, you sound like my sister, naming all those cats. You have some fun names there. Aloha. Mr. It. Bernice (that’s my middle name.) I’m trying to guess which name goes with the pale orange cat. Maybe Coriander or Feather. ??
And I used a very similar name to Miss Marple in my last Hidden Spring mystery, Murder is No Accident. I called that Calico cat Miss Marble. My daughter thought up that name for me.
I call the pale orange one “Paleface,” but my brothers call him “Hector.” That name just makes me shudder! Coriander is a calico female and Feather is a gray-and-white male.
How about Fenwick?!
Miss Molly or if a Mister then Luke.