On the Naming of Cats
November 25, 2013 |
| Photo courtesy Laure Ferlita |
I’ve been adopted.
After quite a few years of missing having a cat, I brought
the subject up with my husband a few months ago. He said he didn’t particularly want a cat himself, but did not mind if I wanted to have one again. That was good enough for me. I waited until after our 25th
anniversary trip, before heading to the animal shelter to adopt a kitten, thinking
a kitten would be easier for Scout to cope with than an adult cat. (Since my
husband couldn’t come that day, Laure Ferlita came with me for moral support, and ended
up adopting my kitten’s sister! You can read about that here.)
The adoption went smoothly, the new kitty settled in well, and Scout accepted her with
no fuss. Maybe that had something to do with getting a treat every time she had
a calm interaction with the kitten? Now it was time to name kitty, but as T.S.
Eliot wrote, “The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter.” (Read the whole poem, “The Naming of Cats,” here.)
I can always make a simple matter more complicated, and so I
did with naming the kitten. Her shelter name was Lucy, which I like as a name
but didn’t seem quite right. A whole week went by with us trying out various names
to see if they’d stick. I wanted a name that would be easy to say, and would
suit an adult cat as well as a kitten. A
name I would feel comfortable hearing announced at the vet, and a name with
some sort of back story or connection to another aspect of my life. I looked up
literary cat names and popular cat names until I was cross-eyed. We tried
Isabelle and Tiger Lily, Zoey and Buttercup, Luna and Lyra. Annabelle came
close, but we finally settled on Prudy, after a favorite character from the
movie Support Your Local Sheriff.
That
took care of what Eliot calls her “everyday name.” But she must also have a
“peculiar and more dignified name” to allow her to “keep up her tail
perpendicular.” We figure Prudy is short for Prudence, which I hope is dignified
enough to suit. (Of course, there’s also that third name “that no human research can
discover”—that name is Prudy’s little secret, and she’s not telling.)
As I type this, Prudy is asleep on my rocking chair. She’s
the sweetest, purriest little thing, and has all three of us wrapped around her
fuzzy paw. (When my college freshman son comes home for the weekend, he sleeps
with her in his room!) Having pets is a source of deep happiness and
contentment for me, and I suspect there will be Prudy stories, just as there
are Scout and Tank stories here on the blog. Stay tuned.
What’s making you happy right now?
6 comments
Such a sweet face! So glad she and Scout have settled into one another.
ReplyDelete...how cool that you and Laure have the sisters! They will have to visit with each other every now and then! Love the Prudy...and I love T.S. Eliot's poem. That's one of Matty's favorite poems too.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new addition to your family. She's a cutie. It's great that Scout accepted her without any fuss, and yes, I'm sure the treats helped!
ReplyDeleteLaure--She lives up to her face...she's probably the sweetest cat I've ever had (so far, anyway).
ReplyDeleteKelly--We joke about having play dates for the sisters!
ReplyDeleteCheryl--Scout figured out the treat angle very quickly: she'd follow the kitten around for bit, then stand looking up at me, waiting for her treat. We're so happy that they seem to be getting along very well.
ReplyDelete