My Cat With Three Names- Part Two

It was time to give our cat a name. Suzi and I had decided to name him, "Ollie." He seemed to like his new name and got used to it pretty fast. I called the vet and registered him with his new name. Two weeks later Suzi said, "I want to change his name to "Boots." Ollie's feet are white and Suzi thought that it looked like he was wearing boots. I replied, "We can't change is name now because he responds to the name, "Ollie." Trying to persuade Suzi I said, "And Boots is such a common name." Then Suzi replied, "But he only comes to me when I call him Boots!" No problem. I had the answer. "OK. We will call him, "Ollie Boots."

Two more weeks had passed and guess what? Suzi again; wanting to change his name for a third time. She said, "I want to name him "Finley." I really like that name." There was no way I was going to allow her to change his name. Can you just imagine how confused this cat would be? He must have had a name before he came to stay with us. And, now our new name for him was, "Ollie." Then we changed it again to, "Ollie Boots." And now, "Finley?" I came up with another bright idea to appease Suzi. "Well, I guess we can call him, "Ollie Boots Finley." What a mouth-full, I thought to myself. Suzi finally agreed. This poor cat probably didn't know if he was coming or going. And, to make matters worse, if Ollie was not on the back porch, I would call for him by yelling, "Ollie...Ollie, Ollie Ollie Oxen-Free!" It's a wonder that all of the neighborhood kids didn't end up on our back porch.

Enough with the three names; I just call him Ollie. Sometimes I do call him, "Chubba-Bubba," in a loving way. I know...I just gave him his fourth name; shame on me. Now, whose house would Ollie go into first? That would be mine. Suzi had a thirteen year old female cat named, "Sassy," and she wasn't friendly towards other cats, so her house was off limits. My male cat, "Pachino" is an indoor/outdoor cat. He already had many interactions with Ollie, and there wasn't any fighting. I had no problem with Ollie coming into my house. After his tour of my home, he seemed comfortable because he plopped himself in the middle of my living room rug and fell asleep. As you may already know, cats are very territorial, but Pachino was great with Ollie. There were no territorial fights at all, until...lap time.

Ollie was comfortably sleeping on the rug, so I laid down on the sofa, and Pachino jumped up on my lap. Pachino lays on my lap every chance he gets. I closed my eyes and then I felt Ollie jump up on my lap. Pachino was not having it...no way! Now they were both laying on my lap, and Pachino began growling and hissing at Ollie. This was the first time Pachino showed any aggression towards Ollie. He wouldn't move and I certainly did not want a cat fight on my lap, so I gently shoved Ollie off. After all, Pachino was here first and this was his home and his mommy. We fell asleep for about an hour and the same thing happened. And, this time it wasn't one-sided. Both cats were in a growling and hissing match...on MY lap! Once again, I shoved Ollie off. Later that evening when it was time for bed, it happened again. But, this time Ollie jumped off without me having to shove him. He soon found a spot to call his own on the recliner in my living room. Pachino won the battle and Ollie never tried that again, unless Pachino was outside. Then my lap was fair game. I put Ollie on a diet which he was not happy about; not one little bit. He did loose some weight which made him more active and playful, and he seemed to be very happy and content.

Image Source: 100% own work.