Welcome, Lauren!

First cat, how exciting!! And a black cat, lucky you. They're very special, you've made a great choice and a good age, too.

I still call Gigi "Sweety Peety" first thing in the morning. I have no idea where that came from, it's been like that since Day One. You'll find that you'll have about 10 nicknames for your kitty, depending on what they're up to. :grin:

Looking forward to pictures and lots of stories!

 

Welcome Lauren

 

Welcome! And I agree with Marie... our cats have so many nicknames I am suprised they dont have an identity crisis. You'll have to post pictures of your new addition.

 

Welcome to the forum!!! We call vinnie Sagwa and Francis Simba sometimes( Well at least my mom does. lol)

 

Hi Lauren! Welcome to the forum. Having your own first pet is exciting! I bet he's a cutie. (By the way, my Murphy is usually "honey.")

 

How exiting!

 

Hi and welcome! Lots of nicknames for sure. Abby's range from Sweetie to Little Devil, depending on what she's up to!

 

Thanks for the warm welcome! You all seem like a lovely bunch.

Marie, I have always adored black cats. My family has had two black cats, one of which was "mine". She passed 2.5 years ago, and I still miss her. I could write a book on how wonderful she was. I had not planned on necessarily getting a black cat (in other words, I was certainly not searching for a "replacement"), but every shelter I visited had so many black kitties. I hadn't realized before just how much of a bias there is against black cats--I'd say close to half of the cats were black or mostly black at the shelter I used. So here I am with another dark beauty.

Good to know I am not the only one whose cat will have many names. I'm now trying to make a final decision between "Niles" and "Nigel". Unfortunately for this situation, onomastics (the study of names) has been a hobby of mine since I was a child. So the level of seriousness I'm bringing to naming this cat is pretty ridiculous, haha.

I will check to see if I have gained permission for the photo board, and post a few.

 

Niles makes me smile because of Frasier. I think it's a great name for a cat, although your cat may become neurotic with a slight chance of becoming a hypochondricat. :grin:

Nigel is also cool, very dignified.

 

Oh, of course, without the adorable Niles Crane, the name might not even be on my radar. Though my sweetie has done a great job adjusting so far, and I suspect will grow out of his initial nervousness and into a very outgoing cat once he gets comfortable, he has proven to be quite Niles-like in his food and dining preferences. After over 24 hours of trial and error, I found the only way to get him to eat was to give him water-softened dry food, served on my dining room table (his favorite spot), and water out of a ceramic mug. Apparently, bowls of any type aren't appropriate for beverages as far as he's concerned. Oh boy.

On the other hand, while searching for a definitive source for the etymology of the name Nigel (if you go the Latin route, it most likely means "black"!), I got a first page Google hit for an artist named Nigel Mylastname, and two of his paintings on the site included black cats. Spooooooky.

What a conundrum.