Can you rename a cat?

[tracilicious]

Last night after work I decided to stop by Savers (it's like Goodwill) to see if they had any cheap turntables to replace my broken one. No luck on the turntables, but there's a Petco right next door, so I figured I might as well pick up some fish food so that the trip wasn't entirely a waste. (Ok, so I've also really been wanting a turtle and thought I would check their prices. Don't tell Michael! )

On my way back to the reptiles, I passed the row of cats up for adoption. In the top left cage was the biggest Maine Coon cat I've ever seen. The size of two cats, and the attitude of three, easily. I pet him for a minute, said hello to the other cats, looked for a turtle (there were none) and found myself back in front of his cage a few minutes later. There are several reasons why getting a cat is maybe not the smartest thing to do right now, the main ones being small children and a dog with a very strong chase instinct. She isn't vicious, but she views cats as big toys. This cat, though, I knew could hold it's own. I thought with enough time and patience the two could eventually live peacefully. Couldn't hurt to ask, right? (As I walked away to ask, the kitty stuck his big paw out after me.)

I asked the fish guy, who was very fond of Snickers, when they did the adoptions. He said the rescue guy should be down soon to close up the cats (whatever that means), but he would find out for sure. While he was checking I called Michael, who was pretty anti cat getting. But the guy came back and said that he called the rescue guy and he was heading right down. I couldn't just leave then..it would be rude!

We spent the next 15 minutes petting and playing with Snickers. I would rub his head and he would roll over so I could rub his belly. He would chase my fingers and paw them, but he kept his claws in (a good sign for kid friendliness!). By the time the guy showed up, I couldn't go home without him.

So we are now the proud family of a giganto cat named Snickers! He is over 25 pounds!!! We're going to introduce him and the dogs very slowly. They haven't met yet, as we want them to get used to each others scents. We'll probably do the intros tomorrow, but it will be at least a week before we trust them alone together. It will be a hassle, but worth it, I think.

I really don't like the name Snickers, but it's been his name for two years (he came from a very messy divorce). Is it mean to change it? I'll post pics as soon as I can figure out how to email them from my phone (our digicam broke).

Hooray for kitties! It's been two long years waiting for the right one.