she has a name

We've settled on a name for the new cat. We tried on quite a few. I spent some time looking through all sorts on insect names after one of our dragonfly pals, Bryan, hinted at some Odonata genera. So she nearly became Libellula, or Libby for short. I liked this a lot, but "Libby" reminded Kingfisher of a vegetable, glass, or an 18th-century schoolgirl, so it was retired.

Clare provided me with the Inuktitut word for cookie, Sivara (depicted at left). We had a hard time working out a nickname for that, but it was too beautiful to ignore.

I liked Grace, but "Gracie" reminded me of Mrs. George Burns. Meanwhile, we had to call her something, and we kept defaulting to one of our original names, Juniper.

So we've settled on a rather elaborate name in the spirit of others we've encountered such as Barky von Schnauzer, Xavier Q. Ladybits, Admiral Van Poof, Fannie Mae Lovechunk, and our own Sophie B. Webb.

Introducing Juniper Grace Sivara. We call her Junie or Juno sometimes, but we like the sing-song sound of drawing out all three syllables of Juniper.

 

She's very curious and quite loving. She seems to be afraid of Sophie, retreating to her room or hissing or growling whenever Sophie is near. And Sophie is very curious and not aggressive towards Juniper -- she very much wants to give her a sniff or come close by. If they get too close, Juniper will really hiss and that in turn scares Sophie, who hisses back and sometimes chases Juniper.  If I'm in the room, they can both be within a few feet of each other but we don't trust them on their own. Nobody seems really wanting to kick the other's ass, but for two cats who have lived with other cats before, this is pretty tedious and I wonder how long it will last. Anybody been through this?

Comments

[John]

Juniper is a beautiful cat.

[Rose Connors]

My two have been living together for three years, and the older cat still hisses, hits, and chases the younger one. I hope you have better luck. Juniper is lovely.

[Horsin' Around]

Juniper is a nice name. Naming a cat is a difficult task.
I have had many cats, over the years, and have 6 right now. I find the males seek out one another's company more often, while the two females tend to stick to themselves most of the time. Four of my cats are a female and three of her offspring who were dumped from a car by my rural home. I have Tonka, Moey, Momcat, Capone, Prince Arthur and Prince Michael (Arthur and Mikey).
Good luck with your beautiful girls.

[Clare]

You could always use "Gin" as a nickname. Juniper is quite lovely just on its own.

[Bryan]

Juniper! Way better than Libby. I'm nonetheless honored to have had you consider an Odonata name (and to have the link on Bootstrap Analysis).

[Mark]

It'll pass. The two older cats are now allowing the younger cats at my house to occupy the same couch without growling or hissing.

[Aydin]

Reminds me of the old Donovan song "Jennifer Juniper":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjZ6JzOul0Y

The 2 cats may never become friends. Unfortunately, that's sometimes the case with older cats.

[kestrel360]

Juniper is a great name, very organic! "Gracie" was the name of one of the first cats that I remember, my grandmother's cat. And Sivara is good for a kitty up there in the frozen north (compared to down here in TN).

As far as them getting along, it may or may not happen. Time, and equal attention, especially with both in the same room, will help. Just remember that Juniper has had a major disruption in her life. Cats develope a loyality to the place where they live, as well as to the people they live with. She will need to feel comfortable and secure with her surroundings before relaxing near Sophie, who is very much in her own territory. As far as time goes, I was married for about 5 years before my cat accepted my (now-ex) husband. She totally ignored him until one day, she walked up to him, looked at him for awhile, then jumped up in his lap!