giving a old cat a new name

I am about to adopt a new cat, she's about 4 years old and atleast part siamese and quiet dark. I visited her yesterday to make sure she would fit in with our family and she is just the sweetest cat.

Her owners named her bogurt, which honestly I don't like. I believe they named her after a football player? I would like to name her Goolcoola (meaning sweet). This is clearly not a big deal, I could learn to like bogurt. Should I try and change her name? or is 4 years a bit to old to try and do that? Oh one other note isthat she also comes to "kitty".

Does anyone have any other suggestions for me? I'm going to pick up a safety collar and then the cat today. I think thats everything I need...I have the litter box, food and some toys...I have a cat and a dog, so I'll be keeping her in another room for about a week...

thanks for any help

Hopefully someone who has expereince with doing pet intro will help with the dog and cat meet-and-greet issues.

I do want to say thanks for adopting an older kitty.

As far as the name thing goes, when we have adopted older cats sometimes the cat recognizes its name and sometimes not. Our late great Gracie has very good come-to-call response (for a cat) so we kept her name. Midori was being called something else and didn't seem to even recognize her name so we changed it.

Does she respond to Bogurt? I have three cats and only one knows his name and when I call it he only looks at me and if he realizes I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have anything of interest for him he ignores me. The other cats have 20 different names and they come to anything, or ignore us all the same.

Unless the cat always comes to her name and knows it well I wouldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t see an issue with it. If she does know and lover her name maybe start changing it slowly like call her “Bogurt†and then as she comes say good Goolcoola!

I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know much about training cats to have different names but honestly, I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t think there will be an issue. I have had many cats in my time and only 2 knew their name.

honestly, I don't think it'll make too much difference~ my kitty responds to jinglebells, jinglebutt, stinkybum, sweetheart and occasionally "troublesome tribble" none of which are actually her real name! In fact, she probably doesn't even know she has a "real" name

Most cats really don't respond to their own names much, so I don't think it's a big deal. We give all our shelter kitties names, and I must admit we try for something catchy to get the attention of adopters.

"Boggart" is an old English name for a mischievous house fairy, and in Harry Potter is a shape-shifting being that takes the shape of our fears. (By the way, the same type of being in "The Manx Mouse," by Paul Gallico, is called a "Clutterbumpf.")

All 5 of mine recognize their names and will come when I call them by name, greeting me a "meowwwww".

You can always call her Bogurt Goolcoola so she will start to assocaite Goolcoola with her name and slowly start dropping the Bogurt.

Thank you for all your help. After spending alittle time with her (and I do mean alittle, see other post), I decided she's more of a Zoey, but I could grow to like bogurt, right now I have other issues I need to help her with first

LOL, I just tried an experiement with my cats and I truely believe it's not really the name but the voice and how you say it. All my cats but 1 have 2 syllable names (Harley, Monster, Gizmo, Corky, Missy, Morris...then there's Little One) and I do say each name in different tones without meaning to. I just called Harley in his "tone" but called him "Sh*thead instead...and he came to me ears perked and tail held high..probably thinking he was getting a treat.

The way I look at it, she's going to have to get used to your voice anyway, so changing her name isn't going to be a big deal. Just make sure you post pics of your new baby once you get her home! Can't wait to see her!

Oscar was a stray when the shelter got him. At the shelter, his paperwork said "Scrunch" but the shelter manager called him "Megus" (pronounced may-gus). He is now Oscar. He doesn't seem to know, or care. Comes to "kitty".

Fin (who was a dump off, so I named him too) on the other hand, comes to Fin, and knows his name very well.

I have had Oscar for a month, Fin for 2 or 3 months.

I don't know that it will matter. Harley was brought in to the shelter as a stray at 1 year old, they named him Wookie, he was at the shelter for 4 months, he didn't recognize Wookie, we named him Harley and after more than a year with us the only thing he responds to (and we just figured this out 2 months ago) is señor. Ginger on the other hand has been here 4 months, was about a year old when we brought her in as a stray and knows her name unbelieveably well, she is outdoors and runs at full speed when I call for her.

Leslie