The Whys and Wherefors of Cat Names...

 "Me-om!!  Whadda mean I have to play nice with her?!"

There are times when cats change and when this happens their names change as well.  There are also times when you can help them through a crisis or change a behavior by changing their name.  This is one of those Great Cat Mysteries™.  Now when Mister Kitten was first brought home by Sarah, everyone thought that he was a she (and I've been sexing cats for... a long time).  She named him Vicious Miette Pumpkin Thunderblaster Knives Pterodactyl.  Once it was discovered  that she was a he Miette no longer worked.  Then he became the Kitten aka Trouble aka Oberon aka Cat with the Identity Crisis which eventually became Mister Kitten.  I am of the opinion that he needs to go back to his original name.  So we are going to try Knives for a week and see how that goes.  If that doesn't work, the next thing to try is Miette, even if it is a girl's name rather than a boy's name.

 "Well, we all like her!!  And she pretty much likes all of us!  Naturally she like me the best!  I'm her brother of a different mother.  She likes Zaphoid the next best and then Thomas.

But as you can see, she lets us all onto the bed now."

 "hehehe  Can you find me??  I'm hiding!"

 "Me-om!  Me-om!!  Zaphy's looking at me!!  Oh!  My daddy has given me a new name!!  He said on the way home that I looked like Audrey Hepburn because of my beautiful black furs.  I love it!!!  Daddy called me Audrey this weekend and I bounced right up to him!  Mommy called me that and I came right to her!  Please call me Audrey now!  Mommy says that my full name will be Lady Audrey Nova StarWatcher.  YAY!!!  Oh, and I love love love the window seat and I'm starting to explore the house.  A big kitty litter is now the hall outside my room for me to use and the itty bitty one in my bathroom is gone.  Now I just have to do something about that stinky yellow cat."

Audrey has been with us for a week and a day now.  She is integrating well into the Horde.  Yesterday she touched noses with both Star and Zaphy.  Certainly she pulled back and gave a delicate Princess hiss but this is an excellent sign!  I have often found that cats who have not reacted well with other cats just need a different environment.  Sometimes just dropping into a smaller number of cats or a cat/dog household can do it.  I've been working with my aunt Susan to help her two cats interact with each other.

Audrey had her nails clipped again yesterday and was determined that she would let me know that it was Not Fun™.  I now have three good sized scratches on my left arm!  However, I'm used to it so I already had treats for Audrey for the ::hand to forehead:: trauma and alcohol wipes & triple antibiotic cream for me.  Then I did Da Boys' nails as well.  You have to be SUPER careful when clipping a cat's nails because if you clip into the quick it is VERY VERY BAD.  So if you should decide to do this for yourself make EXTRA sure that you only clip the translucent/clear part of the nail and I would suggest only clipping the front nails.  That's what I do.  If I sound a wee bit... ummmm... stringent about that it's only because I've seen what can happen to a poor baby whose nails have been clipped too far back.

So, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Kitty Horde are all doing well.  My son has grown another half inch since the first of the year.  My daughter is going to be going to night school Tuesdays & Thursdays.  Now this wouldn't be too much of a problem except that my husband is taking a Tuesday night class and my van has a short in the rear lights and I can't drive unless it's... sunny.  Fortunately he can fix the passenger side window which wasn't working when he came out from a concert last night.  I've been very glad to have Audrey here because she has lifted my spirits through a fibro flare.  She's a darling!!  She's been playing with her new toys from Noodle and Olive while Da Boys adore the fountain they sent.  With the donation from the Califurrrrrnia 5 Petey, Jack, Spunky, Tabitha, Madison LaRue & Momma Pam she has yummy kitten food that must be defended from Da Boys.  The kids and I had physicals last week and I had another doctors appointment which wore me out.  So Audrey kept coming up to me and headbutting me.  She is such a delight and darling and winning over everyone who sees her!!

Please Please Please

Take some time and support a shelter!  Time, coupons, blankets, towels, money, adopt, whatever you can do!!  There are so many who need so much.  And take a minute to love your companions!!