Name that Cat!

It took a long time for Spyder to get his name.

The shelter gives a name to each cat that arrives, if it was not surrendered with a name already given by it's family. Since Spyder and his siblings were found kitties "stray cats", they were given names that were related to the neighborhood in which they were found. Crespi was the name given. Ugh! I knew that wasn't the name he was meant to have.

Since Spyder has a unique appearance, Zenmonk and I tried out several names to fit his looks. Spyder has one blue eye and one gold eye. I know that David Bowie has different colored eyes and we tried on names related to him. David was out of the question as I have a brother by that name. We thought of names of his songs. Rebel was out of the question, too. I believe the name we carry applies to our personality and I didn't want a Rebel cat.

Since Spyder is all white with just a touch of black on his head, I thought perhaps he could be named after a childhood kitty who he resembles... Topper. But, no. that was not his name.

Zenmonk wanted to name him Mohawk or Geronimo. It was Geronimo for a while. But, Spyder certainly didn't respond to it. Zenmonk still calls him that, and that's okay. We will see if he will change over to Spyder.

One day, as I picked him up and held him like a little baby in my arms, I began singing to him. Do you know the song? "Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy?" So, I thought, Ah Ha! That should be his name. Billy Boy. But, no, as he grew up into an adult cat, he would have such a sissy name, so I thought, okay, Billy would be nickname for Bilbo Baggins. But, Bilbo, still was not what I thought to be a good name for an adult cat. Too stuffy. What a curmudgeon name, even for a traveler on an adventure.

So, Billy Baggins was next (and that's the name I told the vet when I took him in for his first check up).

But, you know, sometimes a kitty names himself. There I was one day when Bambi was playing with a mousie in the bathtub. Funny cat! And suddenly I saw a spider scurrying across the tub. Bambi got very excited and wanted to play with it. She was careful not to destroy it, she just wanted to harass it.

Spyder, came out of nowhere and jumped in the tub. He wasn't about to play. Before I could stop him, he ate that spider! I called the vet right away to see if I needed to bring him in. No, the spider was a harmless one, and the joke was that my kitty now had spider blood in his veins. And so, that is how Spyder got his name. Oh... and the spelling? Well, I think the little guy is somewhat of a spy, as it seems he knows what's going on even from another room. It seemed he was spying on Miss Bambi, while she was playing. Don't you think?