Meet our new family member!!!
He is the PERFECT CAT FOR US! I absolutely love orange tabbies. He’s six months old, so not a tiny kitten, but not big enough to be too threatening to our other cats. The rescue organization named him “Dude”, but we’re planning to change that.
Here’s a tip- letting your kids choose a pet’s name can backfire on you. You might remember that we had to talk our daughter out of naming our older, black cat “Beyonce” (luckily we landed on Charlotte). Now that my daughter is a teenager, she wants to name our pets after video game characters, and the names make no sense to me. So far her suggestions have been Tenna, Captain Spaceboy, and Virovirocun. Arrrrrg! My choice would be “Hobbes” but Angie has vetoed that (SIGH!) So the name is TBD at this point. Cross you fingers for me that we don’t end up with anything too bizarre.
So far Muffin and Charlotte are… not thrilled.
“Dude” is sequestered in my son’s (now vacant) room while we’re not home. While I’m home he’s roaming the house, and there has been some hissing on the part of the girls- but nothing too aggressive, so I’m hopeful everyone will settle down soon.
After that, all other news will be anticlimactic, but I will report I bought the plane tickets for my Chicago trip! I’m be there in mid-October, and let’s see some great fall weather, okay, Illinois??? I’m flying in on a Friday morning and back on Sunday- so it will be quick. But just enough time to see my son’s house and hang out with him (and my sister) a little. I’m excited!
The third piece of news is that I got a fun package in the mail from Julie. She sent a card and some EARL GREY TEA.
All Earl Grey is not created equal! Some has a disappointing lack of bergamot flavor. As soon as I opened this package, I could smell bergamot wafting out at me, so I knew this tea would be good… AND IT IS! I’ve been enjoying it very much.
What should we name the cat?-Don’t try to suggest “Pumpkin”- my husband already tried that and my daughter shot it down.
36 Responses
I actually like the name Viro, a shortened version of your daughter’s suggestion. I don’t know the character, but I prefer short names. My Dad named their cat Mouser (original, right!) so don’t let your parents or your kids name your pet. Then I took the cat in when they wanted to travel and I just called him Gato, which is also not original. However, I am not a very creative namer (runs in the family…) I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
I would be okay with Viro if that’s what we end up with. I would still prefer Hobbes though!
Oh, he’s so cute! Love those ears. My cats are named after pokemon, so I know the feeling of not liking kid’s suggestion. ( umbreon and mincino do not thrill me! But we found some compromises.)
He looks so calm and contemplative. I hope the other cats come to love him.
Mr Darcy? Leonardo? Ambrose?Earl gray? Rachet? Apollo? Ferris?
So much fun to think about cat names. I’m sure you will figure out a great one!
Haha, I LOVE Mr. Darcy as a cat name!!!!!!!! Unfortunately I’m sure my daughter will veto it (“Who’s that?”) Same with Earl Grey, although that is a brilliant idea!
hello Dude!!! Please share tips of how to introduce Dude to Muffin. We haven’t managed to guide them to peacefully co-live.
Oh really? I was thinking Cookie was tolerating Bubble by now. Right now Dude wants to play with muffin all the time and she doesn’t want anything to do with him- she hisses every time he comes near. If I come up with a brilliant plan I’ll let you know!
My husband passed out tons of treats to our boy cat and to girl kitten when we first let them meet. every morning for a few days, he’d sit in the living room and toss a treat first to one then the other. so they associated each other with treats. Now they sleep together in cold weather. You might not want such blatant bribery.
Congrats! I actually love Captain Spaceboy – so gloriously outlandish. Your post also reminded me of our neighbours’ tiny cat named “Rambo” – hilarious every time they called him!
I’m slowly coming around to Captain Spaceboy- but I would definitely just refer to him as Captain.
Welcome to the family Dude!!! What a sweet little pumpkin spice latte! I love Hobbes as a name, but I know it’s already been vetoed.
New kitty!!! Plane tickets!!! Earl Gray!!! The week is ending on a high note.
Yes, all good things= except that Muffin is angry. Well- she’ll come around.
I mean, I LIKE Captain Spaceboy! That gets my vote. Hobbes is cute too. I would have also loved Beyonce, FWIW. The family who had Rex before us, their two little boys named him. His full name is T Rex Stegosaurus. I think there was also a “Poopy Pants Bum Bum” in there. Anyway, that’s how he got his name.
A colleague of our friends was up for meetings from Houston, and we met him at a dinner (this is a few years ago, Barkley was still alive but sick). We ended up talking dogs and he told me he had named his dog Chubbs, after the character in Happy Gilmore. We were laughing about that – I love that movie – and he told me that they were thinking of a second dog to go with Chubbs and one of the names they were considering was Shooter McGavin. But then he said in the driest way “But imagine being at the dog park and yelling “Shooter! Shooter!”. I live in Houston!” Dark but true.
I hope Muffin warms up to him quickly (I think it was Muffin who needed more company?).
Yes, it’s ironic- we decided to get another cat because we thought Muffin was lonely. SIGH! Cats are so weird.
Yes- I DON’T think “Shooter” is a good name for a dog!!!!!!!
I like Rex’s full name, ha ha.
Well of course he’s Earl Grey! Or Bergamot! He’s beautiful, I hope he settles in well.
“Earl” for short! I doubt my daughter will agree to that though.
Kitty! So cute! Let’s see, names … I vote Fergus, but not for any orange reason, it just came to mind.
I’m cracking up at the tea packaging: it seems very British to be bragging that it’s “somewhat” superior to traditional Earl Grey!
Fergus is a good cat name! I’m sure my daughter won’t agree though. She’s vetoed all the “somewhat normal” names so far. And I didn’t appreciate that about the tea packaging at first, but I’m laughing at it now.
Love orange cats too. One was Honey.. I had quite a few but now mine are tuxedos.
Will you be able to squeeze in some blogger meet ups in Chicago?
We have a ridiculous prejudice against tuxedo cats, because there’s a big one in our neighborhood who used to jump up on our windowsill from the outside and scare our cats. There were some really cute ones on the adoption website, but I vetoed them- which is silly because I don’t think our cats care what color another cat is! IT’s not like they’re less threatened by an orange tabby.
I don’t know about blogger meetups- it would depend on my son’s schedule. I’m there for such a short time, but if it turns out he has a commitment on one of the days I could try to fit one in.
Congrats on the new cat! Very cute. I am so curious to see how the other cats don (that photo of Muffin says it all right now, doesn’t it). I hope you can all agree on a name that feels right. It will probably morph into something else eventually anyway right? Our previous cat was named Luna but we basically never called her that. In the end she was mostly called JJ Mews. I can’t remember why now but that was what we called her always. So maybe your new cat’s “government name” won’t matter that much anyway.
Ha ha… I love how “Luna” morphed into “JJ Mews.” It’s true that I use all sorts of nicknames for Charlotte and Muffin- it’s not like dogs where it really matters what you call them.
Oh he’s so cute!!! Well I would have suggested Pumpkin! It’s very fitting for a pumpkin lover like you! We named our cat Oscar when we thought it was a boy. Then we found out it was actually a girl but we kept the name Oscar. But in reality, she gets called “Kitty.” No one uses her name! Phil’s family tends to use names that could be used for a human. Like Simon, Rosie, etc. So that is probably why he chose Oscar. It was his cat so I left it completely up to him.
How exciting that you got your plane tickets! I will hope for excellent Midwest fall weather for your trip! It better not be hot and it better not be really cold!!
Honestly, I would take too cold over too hot! October is still super hot in Florida and I would like a change!
Ha ha… my sister had a girl cat named “Miles” for the same reason- they initially thought she was a boy. Well, it really doesn’t matter- cats don’t care about their names!
Your little one is ADORABLE!!! OMG!!!!!
Pumpkin is such a perfect name for your orange tabby you got in your beloved pumpkin season! Too bad Angie shot it down already.
What if you snuck in “Pump” from the video game _Spooky Month_ or Li’l Pump from _Dead Island_?
I’ll run those past her- but I don’t have high hopes. I can’t wait till the day where I can actually name my pets what I want to!
Yay on the tea! I’m glad you liked it, I enjoyed it too. I had it at our hotel and thought it was REALLY good, then when I saw it at the airport ‘Made in Oregon’ store, I knew I had to bring some home for us (Us being you and me)
What a sweet kitty! My brother had an orange tabby named Hobbes, and when my daughter was 3 she called him Pobbes, and it was VERY CUTE. So of course I’m partial to that name. I don’t know anything about video games, so I can’t really help there. Could you name him Wordle? Or Suduko? (Kidding!)
Ugh, you’re making me even sadder that I can’t name him Hobbes! He’s SUCH a Hobbes- today he pounced on me out of nowhere while I was walking through the living room.
The tea really is great. I wonder if I could order it? I’ll have to look into that!
I LOVE Hobbes and LOVE Earl Grey.
Here’s a blog post by Young House love recently all about boy cat names with 200 ideas. Maybe you could find something in here everyone would agree on? https://www.younghouselove.com/boy-cat-names/
What a cutie! I think Hobbes is a perfect name — too bad it was vetoed! Maybe you could name him Calvin as an homage to that though. If you had gotten a gray cat, Earl Grey would have been the obvious name choice hahaha!
A NEW CAT!!!!! What a happy addition to your household! He is darling and I hope his feline roommates adjust to him quickly!
The name that came to mind was Chip, though I don’t know why. Or Todd. I also think Earl would be good or maybe Bergamot? It is very challenging to settle on a name when multiple people have a say!
Aw, it is hard to pick a name! Scooby virtually named himself with those ears!
Yay for booking your trip to Chicago. I was hoping we might overlap but my trip is on weekdays. Maybe next time.
This is exciting. I say you take the I BUY THE FOOD I NAME THE CAT stance. I like pumpkin. What about Sandy? Too bland? Katrina? (I’m at Curly’s volleyball game and her teammates name is Katrina. Mellow- like mellow yellow but mellow for short. Would that depend on the cat’s temperament?
I would bet money that Illinois will rise to the occasion anc produce fall weather for you.
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
DUUUUUDE!!!!!
He is beautiful! He reminds me of Waffles, one of my favorite Insta-cats, but Waffles is a grumpy boy and I hope Dude is a lot friendlier, ha.
I did NOT introduce Lila and Eloise the right way, oops, but it all worked out. I still think Eloise tolerates Lila while Lila is obsessed with Eloise, and I think they both would kill me if I tried to bring in a third cat. Womp!
Hobbes is such a cute name! I’m sorry that got shut down. I’ve always wanted to name a boy cat Albus for Dumbledore. How cute is the name Albus for a cat?! GAH.
Oh! He’s so beautiful. Congrats on your new family member – I hope Muffin and Charlotte will come around to the handsome guy!
Have you named him yet? Looking at him, I agree with others that Hobbes would be so perfect. Sigh. How about Perks?
Mail from Cool Bloggers is the bomb 🙂
OMG!! An orange kitty!! I cannot wait to hear all the stories about how he has zero brain cells. I CANNOT WAIT.
THOSE EARS. I love this post more than I can say. Thank you for sharing happy news. We need all we can get these days.
(And I hope the girls are settling down, and that the naming process goes, um, smoothly? As smoothly as possible with divergent opinions?)