I want to rename my cat

[laralove]

Oliver just doesn't seem to fit. If that makes sense. His personality isn't Oliver-ish. 

He doesn't respond to his name, so would it matter if I changed it? Or is that too weird?

 

[catpack]

I certainly think you can change his name, especially if he doesn't respond to it. It can sometimes take a few tries before *we* figure their names out. =)

 

[fhicat]

Not weird at all. The cats at our shelter have names that make me scratch my head at times. My cat was Yoda. There is nothing sagely or grandfatherly about him at all. 

If he responds to Oliver, it might be confusing at first. Mine is just there so I have something to call him with -- he responds to certain command, but not his name specifically. As in, he knows I'm talking to him by my tone, but I doubt he knows I'm calling him specifically.

 

[betsygee]

I changed all three of our cats' names after we brought them home from the shelter.  The shelter was naming kitties after nuts--one was named 'Brazil', one was....well, I don't even remember but they were NUTTY 

 names.  Ours were only three months old when we got them and I doubt they were called by name that often in the shelter--they adapted just fine to their new names.

 

[laralove]

 
... he knows I'm talking to him by my tone, but I doubt he knows I'm calling him specifically.

That's how my cat is. I can say "Oliver" a dozen times and he won't respond. But if I say anything in a high pitch, or if I say "Kitty!" like I'm possessed by a demon (such as when he jumps on my kitchen counter), he knows he's being addressed. I also regularly call him by all sorts of nicknames, like Fatty McCaterson. I should note he's not overweight, but his belly pouch is something to behold. Again, he only responds if it's high pitched.

So I think I'll change it. Now I just have to decide which of my options I like best.

 

[andrya]

l've pretty much done this with Bretten. l call him Pip more than anything else and that's what he responds to. l don't like the name Pip, it was a nickname from the lovely sound he makes when he wants something, but it just stuck. Do you have one nickname for Oliver that he responds to?

 

[laralove]

Kitty, maybe. I'm definitely not naming him Kitty, though. Haha. I really think it has more to do with pitch than what name I'm actually calling out, like Cory was saying.

 

[lamiatron]

both my cats respond to their names. 

Charlie would respond to his name from the very first day i adopted him. He was 3 months old, and was an owner surrender...so I didn't thinking he needed a name change...plus i think he's meant to be a Charlie...

Jet took some time to learn her name. She was a former stray, so she never had a name..it was something the shelter gave her. At first she never responded to her name. it was more of a tone thing. Then after having her for a couple of months, i noticed if i called charlie, she would come running, but if i called her name out she never bothered to show up. now, she responds to Jet (THANK GOD).

They both respond to their names, regardless of the tone of my voice

Please do tell what other names you are considering (and why..of course)

 

[mani]

I don't have any problem with a name change.. most of us have lots of names for our cats anyway - "pet names"

My two normally respond to "food"   .

 

[pinkdagger]

I find the cats respond more to intonation than what they're actually called too. I tested this, because I was training Mo for recall and my boyfriend said "cats don't do that". I so proved him wrong. Mo would run to me when I called him the following: Momar, Cat, Poopybutt, Moo, Mao, Mo.

Kismet will respond to both Kitten and Kismet - 100% of the time when I use the tone I usually use, and probably 80% of the time when the tone is different.

There was some study I read about a while back saying cats hear and listen to everything their humans say. They just happen to be completely indifferent about it. I'm sure that extends to names and such too, no matter how much you repeat them. Some may decide to care, and others may not.

 

[Kat0121]

I changed 2 out of 3 names when my dog and 2 cats came home from the shelter. My dog Bailey was Brittany at the shelter and Sophie was Midge. Only Lilith kept the same name. 

 

[rachelinaz]

I wish we had changed Mew's name. I am not into Pokemon. We didn't, Mew sounds so boyish... SHE is not a boy. 

 

[animalrescue]

He doesnt look like an Oliver

 

[laralove]

I was thinking Tyrion. As in Lord Tyrion of House Underfoot. (A Game of Thrones reference.) But it doesn't really seem to fit either. 

I'm thinking Ramsay, because I love Chef Ramsay, I watch all of his cooking competition shows, and they both have a thing about raw meat (as Oliver is on an all raw diet). Opposite sides of the coin, but still. So my kids and I often joke in our "cat voice" that "IT'S RAW!" when we serve Oliver his food.

It would also allow for the nickname Rameses, which is my alma mater's mascot.

 

[andrya]

My Rhys was going to be Oliver before we got him.

l changed my older two kids' names after they were born too. The names we chose just didn't suit them when they came out 

My daughter went unnamed for the first two weeks!

With the 3rd child we chose his name (and a girl's name) and in order to stick with it come what may, l painted the end crib panel with one name on each side. l used to hand-paint clothes too, so the boy clothes got "Michael" and the girl clothes got the other name. Thankfully he looked like a very large Michael when he was born.

 

[laralove]

 
l changed my older two kids' names after they were born too.

The birth certificate that my parents got to take with them from the hospital has white out over my middle name from where they changed it when I was a couple of days old! 

 

[meowkittymeow]

With Tardis, we went through a lot of names. She was called Foxy for a 2 days, Lela for a day, Zoi for day, Zee for a day and finally we decided on Tardis, not to mention the people we got her from called her Rascal.  I think it took us so long because me and my husband could not decide on a name we BOTH liked until Tardis.