Cats and Dogs

I confess, I’m more of a cat person than a dog person–not because I dislike dogs–mostly because I never know what to do with dogs. We don’t communicate well.

Generally, dogs jump on me, or invade my personal space with their nose. It’s affection, but it leaves paw prints/scratches and has occasionally knocked me over. Cats are more take-it-or-leave-it. Either they consent to be given attention, or they don’t. You only get scratched if you don’t pay attention to flattened ears, low growls, and thrashing tails.

Regardless of your fondness for cats or dogs, you can probably agree that people name their pets all sorts of weird/funny/clever things. Cleocatra. Bob Barker.

And then there’s nicknames. People get all sorts of nicknames over the years, the blackmail-worthy childhood names, names given by classmates or coworkers… Some because people want to exert as little effort as possible to get your attention, others are an inside joke you can’t escape. Pets get nicknames for similar reasons, I guess.

(Note: Not all of these cats, names, or nicknames are mine.)

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a cat look quite this dorky-happy before.

Markovnikov, aka Kitty (This is what happens when you chose a hard to remember/pronounce name. I’m not sure anyone ever called him by his official name.)

Yes?

Georgia, aka George, aka Kraken, aka Catapult (Because when you wake her up, you’re suddenly dealing with a remarkable amount of mischief. This cat is a bundle of energy, and squirms and twists and launches herself into the  air if you pick her up.)

She sleeps curled up on her head sometimes. My only explanation: she’s a cat.

Luna, aka Little Moon, aka Grumpy (Because of her name means moon, and she has short little legs and a round little body. She also has a tendency to ‘orbit’ people, hovering around, but never getting very close. And she’s grumpy–not violent, but she grumbles and complains.)

How do you decide what to name your pets? Do they end up with nicknames? Or do you call them ‘Hey, you?’ I’m not excluding the other kinds of critters out there: reptiles, rodents, fish, birds… I just don’t have any good examples.