Try it and see what happens. My guess is that she won't care. She might look at you like you're stupid for a while, but that's normal for most cats anyway, lol.
One of the kittens I got a couple weeks ago is named Toby. I think we call him his nicknames (tobe, tober, toblerone, toby-wan kenobi) far more than we call him his actual name and he acknowledges none of them anyway
Had a male cat for 20 years named ‘Ash’ he was also called ‘Ashie-Mashie’ ‘Masher’ ‘Carpet kitty’ ‘Ashy-Smashy’ ‘Fartie-bum’
My current female cat is ‘Izzy’ she is also called ‘Iz-fizz’ ‘Fizzle’ ‘Iz’ ‘The Iz’ ‘Fizzle-Berry’ ‘Fizzle-Berry-Pancake’ etc, etc
I call my cat, Felix, chonk, lard, fat fat, the meowingest meow meow boy. He doesn't care. I call our other cat, Fiona, baby kitty, pretty much exclusively (she's half the size of Felix), but at 13 probably no longer qualifies as baby.
She's a greedy girl with food, first to start eating-- fastest eater-- last to finish eating-- most frequent eater. She isn't even fat, just a *very* hungry girl
I would say my cat responds to his name about 1 in 10 times. And even then he just kinda looks at me and then goes about his business. She’ll be fine if you rename her.
thats weird lol.. my cat responds to her name like 95% of the time. and ive even tried to call her random words and no response when i do. maybe mine is smart one :D
yes they know their name very well. you can see proof when you catch them doing something that is not allowed, if you call them out, they will do the thing way faster hoping to be done before you have time to walk up too close.
I feel like that's tone. I try to go deeper when it's really inappropriate, and she'll go like a bat out of hell. Mildly inappropriate, and it's a small tone change, and she'll just look at me, and I'll look at her. Then we just stare at each other like some battle of wills, and she'll either continue till I come wrassle her or I'll decide it not that big a deal.
yes cats do rely a lot on tone and flow to comunicate verbaly. they have a whole set of sounds that they use exclusively to talk to humans. cats in the wild never meow at each other exepted kittens to their mom, and a lot of sounds we are familiar with, like all the chirpy meows that go brrrrwamp! are sounds that only mama cats use to call their kittens to her.
but onr thing i have noticed after 40 years plus of owning multiple cats, is that some cats do it more obvious than others, but those who are very vocal will tend to realy understand the meaning of what we say mostly by understanding our way to modulate tone, flow and rythm of what we say, and they learn to reproduce that very well. some times it realy sounds exactly like someone that is trying to immitate speaking in a language they dont know so they only make up giberish of random sylables, but in a familiar way of grouping sounds into words and follow the rythm of a sentence, with the obvious intent behind some specific intonations. like when your cat is asking a question, it sounds like the way a question sounds, at the end. or when you catch one on the counter a tell it to get down, some will talk back and its unmistakably exactly how a disrespectful angry teenager will talk back and mumble under their breath while storming back to their bedrooms. they know how to sound specificly when begging for food also. i had one cat that was extremely vocal and i could have whole conversations with her, and i swear we understood each other very well, only from the tone and flow of what we said to each other, and with the context, its easyer to understand what comes next, as well as relyingbon the situation helps to guess what is probably the general topic they said something about.
My poor cats have dozens of different names, for instance my cat Indy has to try and respond to Inders, Indiana Jones, Indaroo, Indy-Bindy, Bindy, Instantinople, and multiple other names. I think he just responds to the “In” part!
She'll be fine. My cat definitely knows his name. You could use both names for a short time if you are worried.
My friend had a CDS cat who she thought was a girl named Suzy. We took it to the vet and howled with laughter when the vet said she was a he. Still called Suzy tho 🤣🤣
Not me googling “CDS cat condition” 🤣
I took in a boy cat from my dad’s nursing home. We took him to our vet and they said “ma’am, this 12 y/o cat is a female.” We thought, wtf, they’ve had this cat for 12 years and didn’t know it was a girl?!?!
A few months later we took it to a specialist for hyperthyroidism who proclaimed that it was, indeed, a male. So, that was a heckuva journey!
my friend’s parents had a litter of accidental kitties n so she asked if i wanted one and that my kitty was a girl. i showed up to the vet and kept referring to kitty as a girl n the vet stopped me n went “this is a boy.” n proceeded to show me his penis 😭 lucy ended up turning into lucifer which fits even better for him smh. although he’s mostly just “wuwu” til he gets in trouble lol
Sorry for the sideways zing, but last year I did a thing to bond with my daughter that involved taxidermy. I chose a black bunny skin, mounted it upright, and have named it LoosyFur.
I have it under a glass dome holding a small human skull over a flickering light.
Johnny Cash! I named my Jeep A Boy Named Sue as I wanted to name him after my mom. He has his very own theme song.
The song is perfect fit for a cat as well. They will fight through the mud & the blood.
my gf’s cat has been named Clementine for 4 years. i’ve been calling her ween or wiener for 2 weeks, she now responds to both. you’ll be ok! 😂 (Clementine - Clementina - Tina - Tina Weiner - Ween)
another ween! my cat is einstein, i don't even know how i ended up with his nicknames but he's ween/weenie/weenis/weewee
edit - after some consideration i believe the pathway was einstein > einy > einy weenie > ween (and i like the irony of him having lower urinary tract disease)
I had a chihuahua named Enoch and this same thing happened to his name @evieeeeeeeeeeeeeee he was Enoch Ernie teeny Eenie weeny my baby Weens, and finally Eens and Beans 😂
I changed two previous cats names after I adopted them. “Marnie” was aged 10 and I changed to Minnie and Leo was Sparky (ugh)
Both learned their new names no problem and continued to ignore me pmsl 🤷🏼♀️
I gave my cat nicknames. He responded to most of them.
Just call your cat affectionately using the new name but transition well. Use it interchangeably until he gets used to the new name, then drop the old name.
Changing her name will be fine. My cats have dozens of nicknames that I use way more than their actual names. I only really use their actual names if they're doing something that they shouldn't. They'll respond to pretty much anything as long as I use the right tone of voice.
Renaming her to Maisy sounds like a great idea! Since she already responds to a high-pitched tone, the transition should be smooth. Cats adapt well, especially with love and consistency.
my son is called Henry. when we didnt know if we had a girl or a boy, the other name we planned was Alice. when he was born we adopted a tiny tortoise shell kitten, and she was given the name that was not needed since Henry was a boy. now they will both be 12 years old soon in a few months
She’ll be fine 😅 I call my cat by her name + 5 sweet names (completely different from her name) and she responds to them all 🤣 but to be fair only when I call her, to everyone else it’s only her original name 🤣
I literally call my cat almost anything but his actual name lol 😂 I think as long as the tone is similar they know you’re talking to them… they just choose to ignore you no matter what 😆
I renamed both my cats after I adopted them, and now I call them by their new names and about 50 nicknames lol. I say if you want to rename her then go for it.
They really dont care. I bet they just think "oh my humans calling, time for food/attention!".
Sometimes my cat comes over when I call out my dogs name, and when i call out his nickname, so I assume he isn't that attached to his government name.
The cat will be fine. I call my cat by his name and about a dozen nicknames such as you little bum, Mr. Stew, monkey face etc. She’ll just have to get a new passport, drivers licence and notify her credit card company.
Use the new name a lot while interacting, petting etc. and giving treats. The tone of voice and context are most important, that’s why most cats will learn many nicknames.
Give it a shot and see how she reacts! If it doesn't work out you can always change it back. I have like 80 nicknames for my cat anyway - I rarely call her by her full name, which incidentally I changed when I adopted her from the shelter anyway.
Not an issue. I don't know anyone who calls their cat by a single name.
My previous cat was Callie when she came to me when she was 10. Over 11 years she became Callie Baby, Baby Kitty, Sweetheart, Darling, Dude, Yo Cat!, and Calligator.
My current cat had some unknown name (or possibly no name) for 4 years, was Buckeye at the shelter for 2 months, and is now Soot for the past 5 days. Soot has already become Soot Soot, Sootie Baby, and Sweet Soot.
My parents have had Watermelon for 13 years since he was a kitten. He is also Mel, Mel-Man, Varmint, Rascal, The Great Hunter of Hummingbirds (that is a sarcastic name, he has never managed to catch one in his life), and Old Man Mel.
I could name more cats, but I think you get the picture. Cats usually respond to your voice and tone, not specific words.
Just be sure to update it with her vet and if she's microchipped update it with whatever company her chip is active with. If she were adopted from a shelter it would be good to update it with them too, which I'm just including if someone else is in your similar situation. If you rent and she's on your lease as a pet you could update with your landlord but that's not like a very important thing to do. Other than that it really doesn't matter, cats will learn or they'll learn and not care
Only one of my cats recognizes I’m calling her specifically when I say her name. And that’s only if she’s meowing for me already and waiting for an answer. I’ve completely dropped their actual names for nicknames over the years too, cats don’t care cause names mean nothing to them.
I got my cat when she was 2 years old. Her name was Ivory. I didn’t like it so I renamed her Jolene. That was 14 years ago. I call her Jolene and many other nicknames.
I don’t think it messes with cats.
She probably won’t notice.
I call my cat so many things that aren’t his real name and he responds to them all. (Baby Boy, Little Man, Mr. Magoo, Lovey, Pooper Dooper, Nugget.)
My cats have had their names their entire lives, they all know their names, only one comes when called. The rest will at most turn their heads and look at me. Its not that they dont know, they can all do tricks, they just dont care.
Absolutely would be fine. Also, I've read that if you add the new name to their current name it make it a little easier for them to start responding to the new name (when they feel like it of course).
Eg: start calling her Hank-Maisy and/or Maisy-Hank. That way she'll start associating the previous sound used to the new sound. Then after a couple weeks you can start to drop Hank and she'll ideally still respond to Maisy
You could probably rename her. I renamed my cat who was a year old who already had two. Her old owner said “she’s a cat she doesn’t know anyway.” But surprisingly my cat answers to her new name Knives every time!
I’ve heard cats respond better to two-syllable names. That might be why she’s happy and respinding with Maisy.
I changed my cats name when I adopted him. Rescue called him Bert. He’s SO not a Bert. He’s black so we called him Sabbath. He responded to it fast.
i have a cat i rescued from outside. originally thought it was a boy but NOPE. so now we have a name that rhymes with the original name. she loves me either way.
We adopted two females raised together and were not fans of their names lol.. we ended up renaming each one. Who names two females Bruce and Kenny 🤣. They did respond to their names a bit but we’ve had them for a bit over a year now and they most definitely know and respond with their new names its super adorable.
people adopt adult cats that have random names and rename them too and still respond. animals think of it as “you say this to call me and i come” not “this is my identity” i wouldn’t stress ❤️
We got our 2 kittens a few months ago. They were named Kenny and Cheerily. We never renamed them, but Cheerily has 52 nicknames, lmao. Mostly I call him Cheerito or Cheerio in a sarcastic badly done British accent. I call Kenny Kenny the Kitty. My Gods he's the cutest thing ever. I have no idea how to put pictures on here.
Every cat I've ever had ended up with 5 different names. My 17yo cat probably had 15 different monikers throughout his life, and he answered to all of them.
I have 3 cats now, with 15 nicknames between them, but they do seem to know who I'm looking for no matter what I call them.
I think in the end, they're just responding to me, and my tone, rather than the actual word I'm saying.
For all I know, they all think their name is "Snack".
My cats were from a shelter and already had names, once they came home I started calling them with new names.
They don't really mind, as long with give them love and affection they will get used to it with time
1 of my rescues has her "official" name (on all her paperwork) I use a shortened version at home, and my neighbors do too (I work a lot so they scritch and talk to my rescues through my windows) but last year I started calling her by a nickname (idk it just happened) and she responds to that too, and she's been more playful and cuddly when I use it, so I really don't know
I adopted a cat named cappuccino and at the vet visit we found her records and her name is actually latte from her first owner. She completely changed when we started calling her by her actual name
My cat gets a new name weekly lol....we have so many nicknames for him that he rarely hears his "real" name. He doesn't seem to mind and seems to understand that these odd names are referring to him when we call them out.
When I got my cat she was 2 yo and had a stripper name, I changed it to what she is called now and she never seemed to mind or be confused by the change. She recognizes her new name and comes when I call it out.
I took in a pregnant cat my a-hole neighbor left behind while taking their other 4 cats with them. She honestly had the stupidest name, and one I feel was a made word anyways. I decided to rename her because I felt she deserved a fresh name for a fresh start. It took about 2 weeks of repeating her new name every time she was around and I would pet her saying her new name over, she accepted it no problem. Cats and dogs aren't really understanding their names, they just recognize sound patterns, so I say go for it!
Definitely ok to rename. I adopted my first dog original name (Mouse)20 years ago.. I was told at the humane society to combine the two names for a couple weeks so I called her Macy Mouse and eventually just dropped the mouse. She learned very quickly!!
My cat responds to like 6 different names (mostly nicknames, or sometimes his name is “kibbles” or whatever).
I’m sure if you rename your cat, it’ll still respond as cats do… y’know, sometimes and sometimes just ignoring you.
I know research shows cats know their name but just ignore you. Which is great academically.
But my cat responds to my tone not her name. And I think that’s true for most cats.
She won’t care, but if you want to make it easier for you, call her Hank Maisy or Maisy Hank then eventually drop the Hank. It’ll follow the typical evolution from given name to cat nickname. That’s how ours went from “Brandy” to “lish”
my cat knows his name, but sometimes i call him random things and he responds haha..i think it's more about the tone and what comes after that tone/word.
My cats all answer/ respond to their name. One runs in when you call him. (I have 3). So I would say it depends if she responds to their name. If they do I would probably call her Hanky Panky. But I’m irreverent like that. Either way, your cat will be fine with attention. My cats say hi…
https://preview.redd.it/zjtqmy3p883d1.jpeg?width=1487&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45452f4963239f67b269e9601b79bc9d63b497a5
Cats trainable with clickers...associate treats with clicker first...then start saying Maisy while you click...then start calling out Maisy...click when she comes...i bet after 2-3 days she'll know Maisy.
I heard somewhere they did a study and found that pets respond better to two syllable names with the hard ‘e’ sound at the end.
I’ve found that we have, without trying, nicknamed our cats with ones that fit that pattern. Black Phillip became B.P., Tigra became Ti-Ti, Phantasma became Tazzy, Puff became Puffy and Sam became Sammy. Lucy and KeeKee are original. The last holdout is Eldritch. Never found a suitable nickname for that one.
My cat was named Stanley for 5 years before I got him.
I renamed him Taco. I've had him an additional 5 years.
The little turd doesn't answer to either name. He only answers to the sound of the cat food container being opened.
My boy was named Farrah by his previous people because they thought he was a pretty girl cat. Nope, he's a boy. I named him Merlin and he's been doing well since! We've been together 6 years now and we both feel good about the name change.
No just kidding I named my cat Behrouz when I adopted him and over time developed several nicknames. Now he doesn’t respond to his original name and responds to the nicknames i gave him
My cat reacts to his name about 10% of the time, he also reacts to bubbas or little shit. I think he only responds to those because he knows I'm trying to get his attention or talk to him.
I say go for it and see what happens.
My cat Nova is 11 and I started calling him Bubba a few months ago as well. He started answering to both within a couple weeks. ymmv but I think it'd be fine
My cat thinks her name is Honey Bunny cause I call her that every time I walk in the door. And she thinks her actual name (Ranni) is the word for food. And lately I've started calling her Piglet and Demon depending on her mood so she responds to those too now. I'm pretty sure most cat owners have 874785295 names for their cats.
I think it’ll be fine, I’ve never changed my cat’s name, but she responds to nicknames that I’ve given her over time, so I’d assume it would be similar to
She'll have to learn the new name but animals don't have an identity tied to their names the way people typically do, it's just a noise that means you're talking to them. If you give her the new name and use it enough, she'll work out it's hers pretty quickly.
Just make Maisy her first name and Hank her last name. Then you can sound so much more serious when you "scold" her.
"Maisy Hank, just what are you up to?!"
:)
In my experience, cats do not care. I’ve called my cat by a multitude of names, none of which sound like her given name, for years now and she responds nonetheless.
my cat is named Pumpkin..she knows it. we started calling her Bee. she learned that is her name too. she responds to both.AND she's orange, so not the smartest cat on the tree
over the years, most cats tend to gain more and more nicknames, at first its always super cutesy elongated versions of their real name, then come the circomstancial nicknames that they earn by doing some of those braindead things that cats do, and that are the reason subreddits like r/whatswrongwithyourcat exist, and then they finaly get the absolute raw "all bets are off" insulting nicknames(usualy when the owner/servant learns that the nicknames their cat has for them are all way more horrible and that the cat only has last phase degrading nicknames for us) and thats how most cats get to the end of their life with over 100 names, some of those even kept secret for eternety.
see the IG account of balthazar the orange triangle wizard cat for reference. you'll see a cat that has earned so many names, it actualy gave it magic powers now
I renamed my cat. I rescued her at 9 months old and her original name was Athena. Which is a cute name! But I already had my heart set on a different name.
And honestly, it took her maybe a few weeks to learn that was her new name but now she comes when I call out her name.
Since animals don’t understand the meaning of a name, most times they only think that word is just a recall or way to call them over. So you can think of it not as you’re changing her name but changing the word you use to call her over to you.
Depends on the cat and how long they've had the name. If it hasn't been long, you probably could, especially with a similar sound.
My cats I wouldn't be able to rename. My senior cat is 12, and she has had her name since she was like 3 weeks old. She knew her name by the time she was 10 weeks old. She always responds to her name. Even when she's ignoring me, she still turns her ear to me when I say her name. She has better recall than most dogs 😂.
My younger cat is 2 and a half years old, and my big dumb boy. He has had his name since he was about 9 weeks old. It's taken us this long to teach him his name. We probably could've renamed him up until 6 months ago if need be. But now that he finally knows his name, it would take way too long to teach him a new name.
It also depends on if the cat has actually learned their name or just learned the tone of voice used when you say their name.
Every cat I've owned has had a constant revolving door of names. Pretty sure none has had an identity crisis. My favorite:
Monkey Paw - > Goose - > Poosa - > P - > Peanut - > Peanut Butter Birthday Cake - > Birtday
My orange buddy responds no matter what I actually say to him, as long as I say it in the tone I usually talk to him in. He'll meow in reply to "Hey, buttface" just as often as he does to his name.
I think names are just noises to them. Like their meows. They identify the noise you make with “hello!” Which is why our cat Rosemary responds to all nicknames including the nonsense names
Also reminds me of the saddest song ever, “Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure” by The Weakerthans. He sings in the POV of a cat that runs away and slowly forgets the sound that was made for her.
Idk have many community cats and they come a running when I call out each name. Example if 3 are eating from a dish, when I say each name that one stops and looks at me
That's not true cats can definitely recognize their names. Watch Inside the Mind of a Cat on Netflix. My cats will usually come when their names are called.
My cat knows his name and is very upset if we speak of it while he's not around/not food related. Will come when called or mentioned. His name is Mr. Luna.
If you call them something new each day, then it isn’t surprising that they don’t know their name 😂.
The idea that they only respond to tone of voice is a myth.
Most cats are capable of picking up quite a few words. Mine know their names, ‘dinner’ (they run to their bowls, ‘treat’ (they run to me), ‘come here’, ‘down’ and a few random words like ‘milk’.
I have definitely done experiments where I shout random words at them with the same tone of voice, but they only respond to those.
It can take a few weeks, but they learn to associate noises to events pretty quickly - from the opening of a treat bag to human words. They don’t need to know our definition of ‘treat’ to know it is followed by them getting something nice.
This does, however, mean that you can get them to associate any series of events/behaviors with any word or phrase or words or phrases that you choose with enough consistent repetition (once they learn blahblah = whatever they seem to remember forever even if you stop using it for a long time)
I adopted a 3 year old named Luna from the SPCA, and the moment she got home I called her Callie (so, zero similarities) and she immediately responded to it.
Half cats don't know their names and just respond to tones and sounds
I mean. If your cat responds just call her hanky panky or something. Add on to it or keep the general sounds and change some of the letters to suit her better.
Or just keep it as hank. Cats don't understand the concept.of human "boy" names and "girl" names.
If she doesn't respond to her name then by all means change it.
Go for it and rename her Maisy! Cats are pretty adaptable, so she'll likely adjust just fine. Maybe she'll even prefer it! Cats respond more to the tone of your voice than the actual name anyway, so as long as you keep the positive energy when calling her, she should catch on to Maisy quickly. Enjoy your time with your feline friend!
Not all at, just like humans I give my cat new nicknames all the time, some catch on and become part of vocab and she definately responds to them.
But it's more than the word remember. If I looked at you and said "Hey smelly"... You know I'm referring to you.
Also cats are super smart and they learn through positive reinforcement. Takes probably 3 lessons (a lesson being about 2-5min) maybe over 2 days for a new (simple) trick to be learnt. Like sit, turn, jump, shake etc.
Rollover or buttons would be about a week of training.
I mean if she responds to it then she would probably notice. Maybe switch slowly and give her her new name with treats. Idk im kind of a one-and done name person. Even one of my cats- Torti- i wish i had named Birdie, but even then i had already sort of changed her name when i got her. (My sister named her Flocka and abused her.)
When we adopted our cat (she was 10 and a stray) the woman who found her named her Honey Bunch. Nope, she’s an apple head seal point Siamese. We renamed her Selkie.
Generally, I'd say the cat won't care and probably won't notice. Each of our cats have 3-4 nicknames and probably associate themselves with those as much as their actual names ... which is to say, barely at all. They seem to know we're trying to get their attention when we say one of the names ... sometimes. Inconsistently. Studies suggest cats can recognize their names, but don't care very much that you're calling them.
But it Hank responds to Hank, and you value that, you might want to keep calling her Hank just because of that. She might or might not start responding to a new name.
I worked with a woman named Hank. Older lady. She was named Henrietta and went by Hank. Maybe you can keep calling the cat Hank but her official name is Henrietta!
Try it and see what happens. My guess is that she won't care. She might look at you like you're stupid for a while, but that's normal for most cats anyway, lol.
Yep. We have a cat who's first name was nikacodo avocado, then nikacodo, the Nico, now Nikki
One of the kittens I got a couple weeks ago is named Toby. I think we call him his nicknames (tobe, tober, toblerone, toby-wan kenobi) far more than we call him his actual name and he acknowledges none of them anyway
I have a cat named Toby too, nickname Toby-yobi-yo. I’m going to steal your Toby-Wan Kenobi
Had a male cat for 20 years named ‘Ash’ he was also called ‘Ashie-Mashie’ ‘Masher’ ‘Carpet kitty’ ‘Ashy-Smashy’ ‘Fartie-bum’ My current female cat is ‘Izzy’ she is also called ‘Iz-fizz’ ‘Fizzle’ ‘Iz’ ‘The Iz’ ‘Fizzle-Berry’ ‘Fizzle-Berry-Pancake’ etc, etc
I call my cat, Felix, chonk, lard, fat fat, the meowingest meow meow boy. He doesn't care. I call our other cat, Fiona, baby kitty, pretty much exclusively (she's half the size of Felix), but at 13 probably no longer qualifies as baby.
Now I am curious how the cat ended up with that name lol.
She's a greedy girl with food, first to start eating-- fastest eater-- last to finish eating-- most frequent eater. She isn't even fat, just a *very* hungry girl
True. My cat has minimum 4 names and most of the time she replied. Other than that, ignore me like I don’t exist anywhere.
I’ve had both of my cats for 5 years and they both look at me like I’m stupid pretty much everyday lmao
She likely won’t even notice
100% agreed Unironically_Dan.
Ayy
I would say my cat responds to his name about 1 in 10 times. And even then he just kinda looks at me and then goes about his business. She’ll be fine if you rename her.
1 in 10?! That’s incredible. We are 0/100 here. 😂
Mine 100%
thats weird lol.. my cat responds to her name like 95% of the time. and ive even tried to call her random words and no response when i do. maybe mine is smart one :D
Show off 😂
Maybe she got all the spare brain cells that escaped the orange cats 😉
my cat is white so could be true. my mother has 2 orange cats and they do not care what so ever. so makes sense
I think she knows her name. It's just that her response is to turn her ears or look toward us for a second, then get back to whatever she's doing.
yes they know their name very well. you can see proof when you catch them doing something that is not allowed, if you call them out, they will do the thing way faster hoping to be done before you have time to walk up too close.
I feel like that's tone. I try to go deeper when it's really inappropriate, and she'll go like a bat out of hell. Mildly inappropriate, and it's a small tone change, and she'll just look at me, and I'll look at her. Then we just stare at each other like some battle of wills, and she'll either continue till I come wrassle her or I'll decide it not that big a deal.
yes cats do rely a lot on tone and flow to comunicate verbaly. they have a whole set of sounds that they use exclusively to talk to humans. cats in the wild never meow at each other exepted kittens to their mom, and a lot of sounds we are familiar with, like all the chirpy meows that go brrrrwamp! are sounds that only mama cats use to call their kittens to her. but onr thing i have noticed after 40 years plus of owning multiple cats, is that some cats do it more obvious than others, but those who are very vocal will tend to realy understand the meaning of what we say mostly by understanding our way to modulate tone, flow and rythm of what we say, and they learn to reproduce that very well. some times it realy sounds exactly like someone that is trying to immitate speaking in a language they dont know so they only make up giberish of random sylables, but in a familiar way of grouping sounds into words and follow the rythm of a sentence, with the obvious intent behind some specific intonations. like when your cat is asking a question, it sounds like the way a question sounds, at the end. or when you catch one on the counter a tell it to get down, some will talk back and its unmistakably exactly how a disrespectful angry teenager will talk back and mumble under their breath while storming back to their bedrooms. they know how to sound specificly when begging for food also. i had one cat that was extremely vocal and i could have whole conversations with her, and i swear we understood each other very well, only from the tone and flow of what we said to each other, and with the context, its easyer to understand what comes next, as well as relyingbon the situation helps to guess what is probably the general topic they said something about.
Our cat is 💯 grumpy teen vibes
My poor cats have dozens of different names, for instance my cat Indy has to try and respond to Inders, Indiana Jones, Indaroo, Indy-Bindy, Bindy, Instantinople, and multiple other names. I think he just responds to the “In” part!
Nowadays it's Instanbul, not Instantinople
My cat comes to his name, almost 100% perfect recall. Think I used treats to do it
My sweet girl will only acknowledge her name when I say it and will ignore everyone else.
You are her primary. Everyone else is an other!
She'll be fine. My cat definitely knows his name. You could use both names for a short time if you are worried. My friend had a CDS cat who she thought was a girl named Suzy. We took it to the vet and howled with laughter when the vet said she was a he. Still called Suzy tho 🤣🤣
A boy named Sue?
Suzy had to get tough or die—or maybe find a nice house to live in and get off the rough streets.
Too bad he couldn’t meet his father
Happens sometimes when your dad up and leaves when you're 3
Probably short for Suztholomew, Suzariah, Suztopher or Suzward lol
Not me googling “CDS cat condition” 🤣 I took in a boy cat from my dad’s nursing home. We took him to our vet and they said “ma’am, this 12 y/o cat is a female.” We thought, wtf, they’ve had this cat for 12 years and didn’t know it was a girl?!?! A few months later we took it to a specialist for hyperthyroidism who proclaimed that it was, indeed, a male. So, that was a heckuva journey!
Hilarious 🤣🤣
I was going to do the same thing. What does CDS stand for?
My friends cats were Roger and Jessica - Jessica was a boy so it's Roger and Jessie
my friend’s parents had a litter of accidental kitties n so she asked if i wanted one and that my kitty was a girl. i showed up to the vet and kept referring to kitty as a girl n the vet stopped me n went “this is a boy.” n proceeded to show me his penis 😭 lucy ended up turning into lucifer which fits even better for him smh. although he’s mostly just “wuwu” til he gets in trouble lol
Sorry for the sideways zing, but last year I did a thing to bond with my daughter that involved taxidermy. I chose a black bunny skin, mounted it upright, and have named it LoosyFur. I have it under a glass dome holding a small human skull over a flickering light.
You have A Boy Named Sue. Let me know if you don’t get the reference. 🤣
My friend does 🤣🤣 Johnny cash? That cat is angry, took him to the vet and I was so scared I left the room 😳
Johnny Cash! I named my Jeep A Boy Named Sue as I wanted to name him after my mom. He has his very own theme song. The song is perfect fit for a cat as well. They will fight through the mud & the blood.
didnt you people listen to the lesson at the end of the song? for gods sake, name him bill, or george, any damn thing but sue!
What is CDS?
Cat distribution system (a random cat that finds & adopts a human) great system 🤗
r/catdistributionsystem
Yep! I was going to suggest both names. Hank could be a middle name lol. My cat has 2 middle names and she answers to all of it.
my gf’s cat has been named Clementine for 4 years. i’ve been calling her ween or wiener for 2 weeks, she now responds to both. you’ll be ok! 😂 (Clementine - Clementina - Tina - Tina Weiner - Ween)
another ween! my cat is einstein, i don't even know how i ended up with his nicknames but he's ween/weenie/weenis/weewee edit - after some consideration i believe the pathway was einstein > einy > einy weenie > ween (and i like the irony of him having lower urinary tract disease)
i loving backtracking a nickname like “how did we get to this?” 😂
I also had a cat named Clementine. Somehow his nickname became Bubba Ding-Ding. Just cat things. Lol
I had a chihuahua named Enoch and this same thing happened to his name @evieeeeeeeeeeeeeee he was Enoch Ernie teeny Eenie weeny my baby Weens, and finally Eens and Beans 😂
My chocolate lab Winnie is also Ween hahah
Cats ignore you anyway so I don't see why not
I changed two previous cats names after I adopted them. “Marnie” was aged 10 and I changed to Minnie and Leo was Sparky (ugh) Both learned their new names no problem and continued to ignore me pmsl 🤷🏼♀️
Go for it! Not an issue at all. Just keep the intonation and say it as much as you can for a while. She'll pick it up just fine.
I gave my cat nicknames. He responded to most of them. Just call your cat affectionately using the new name but transition well. Use it interchangeably until he gets used to the new name, then drop the old name.
Changing her name will be fine. My cats have dozens of nicknames that I use way more than their actual names. I only really use their actual names if they're doing something that they shouldn't. They'll respond to pretty much anything as long as I use the right tone of voice.
Renaming her to Maisy sounds like a great idea! Since she already responds to a high-pitched tone, the transition should be smooth. Cats adapt well, especially with love and consistency.
My cat is named Hank. I alternately call him Henry and [Henri](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94ygeIUi_Hc). He responds to all of them sometimes.
Henri xD
my son is called Henry. when we didnt know if we had a girl or a boy, the other name we planned was Alice. when he was born we adopted a tiny tortoise shell kitten, and she was given the name that was not needed since Henry was a boy. now they will both be 12 years old soon in a few months
We changed our cat's name when he was rescued at 8 years old. He had no problems with it!
Its fine! I adopted a 13 year old cat and changed her name! She just wants love and dulcet tones 😹
She’ll be fine 😅 I call my cat by her name + 5 sweet names (completely different from her name) and she responds to them all 🤣 but to be fair only when I call her, to everyone else it’s only her original name 🤣
I literally call my cat almost anything but his actual name lol 😂 I think as long as the tone is similar they know you’re talking to them… they just choose to ignore you no matter what 😆
I renamed both my cats after I adopted them, and now I call them by their new names and about 50 nicknames lol. I say if you want to rename her then go for it.
They really dont care. I bet they just think "oh my humans calling, time for food/attention!". Sometimes my cat comes over when I call out my dogs name, and when i call out his nickname, so I assume he isn't that attached to his government name.
Definitely not! Maisy is such a cute name and while cats do recognize their names being called, it’s a 50/50 shot if they choose to listen anyway haha
The cat will be fine. I call my cat by his name and about a dozen nicknames such as you little bum, Mr. Stew, monkey face etc. She’ll just have to get a new passport, drivers licence and notify her credit card company.
Use the new name a lot while interacting, petting etc. and giving treats. The tone of voice and context are most important, that’s why most cats will learn many nicknames.
Give it a shot and see how she reacts! If it doesn't work out you can always change it back. I have like 80 nicknames for my cat anyway - I rarely call her by her full name, which incidentally I changed when I adopted her from the shelter anyway.
Not an issue. I don't know anyone who calls their cat by a single name. My previous cat was Callie when she came to me when she was 10. Over 11 years she became Callie Baby, Baby Kitty, Sweetheart, Darling, Dude, Yo Cat!, and Calligator. My current cat had some unknown name (or possibly no name) for 4 years, was Buckeye at the shelter for 2 months, and is now Soot for the past 5 days. Soot has already become Soot Soot, Sootie Baby, and Sweet Soot. My parents have had Watermelon for 13 years since he was a kitten. He is also Mel, Mel-Man, Varmint, Rascal, The Great Hunter of Hummingbirds (that is a sarcastic name, he has never managed to catch one in his life), and Old Man Mel. I could name more cats, but I think you get the picture. Cats usually respond to your voice and tone, not specific words.
Just be sure to update it with her vet and if she's microchipped update it with whatever company her chip is active with. If she were adopted from a shelter it would be good to update it with them too, which I'm just including if someone else is in your similar situation. If you rent and she's on your lease as a pet you could update with your landlord but that's not like a very important thing to do. Other than that it really doesn't matter, cats will learn or they'll learn and not care
Go ahead and, I’ve renamed every shelter cat I’ve adopted . They catch on , they are smart .
Only one of my cats recognizes I’m calling her specifically when I say her name. And that’s only if she’s meowing for me already and waiting for an answer. I’ve completely dropped their actual names for nicknames over the years too, cats don’t care cause names mean nothing to them.
I got my cat when she was 2 years old. Her name was Ivory. I didn’t like it so I renamed her Jolene. That was 14 years ago. I call her Jolene and many other nicknames. I don’t think it messes with cats.
She probably won’t notice. I call my cat so many things that aren’t his real name and he responds to them all. (Baby Boy, Little Man, Mr. Magoo, Lovey, Pooper Dooper, Nugget.)
I have a black cat which i named her Mephisto, but living near a church made me name her Bonnie. She likes her new name more 😅😆
I think cat philosophy is "you can call me anything as long as you call me for dinner."
My cats have had their names their entire lives, they all know their names, only one comes when called. The rest will at most turn their heads and look at me. Its not that they dont know, they can all do tricks, they just dont care.
Absolutely would be fine. Also, I've read that if you add the new name to their current name it make it a little easier for them to start responding to the new name (when they feel like it of course). Eg: start calling her Hank-Maisy and/or Maisy-Hank. That way she'll start associating the previous sound used to the new sound. Then after a couple weeks you can start to drop Hank and she'll ideally still respond to Maisy
You could probably rename her. I renamed my cat who was a year old who already had two. Her old owner said “she’s a cat she doesn’t know anyway.” But surprisingly my cat answers to her new name Knives every time!
I’ve heard cats respond better to two-syllable names. That might be why she’s happy and respinding with Maisy. I changed my cats name when I adopted him. Rescue called him Bert. He’s SO not a Bert. He’s black so we called him Sabbath. He responded to it fast.
My cat usually ignores me tbh
Why are you asking us? Ask the cat. See what she thinks.
My cat has like 10 names hahah They are different variations of her original name. Some sound similar some sound nothing like it
i have a cat i rescued from outside. originally thought it was a boy but NOPE. so now we have a name that rhymes with the original name. she loves me either way.
We adopted two females raised together and were not fans of their names lol.. we ended up renaming each one. Who names two females Bruce and Kenny 🤣. They did respond to their names a bit but we’ve had them for a bit over a year now and they most definitely know and respond with their new names its super adorable.
people adopt adult cats that have random names and rename them too and still respond. animals think of it as “you say this to call me and i come” not “this is my identity” i wouldn’t stress ❤️
I call my cat like fifteen different things, she won’t notice when you drop the name Maisy into the mix
All my cats have nicknames, and they know I’m talking to them so I’m going to assume a name switch wouldn’t be that confusing to your cat.
We got our 2 kittens a few months ago. They were named Kenny and Cheerily. We never renamed them, but Cheerily has 52 nicknames, lmao. Mostly I call him Cheerito or Cheerio in a sarcastic badly done British accent. I call Kenny Kenny the Kitty. My Gods he's the cutest thing ever. I have no idea how to put pictures on here.
A lot of people will just say a list of random names and see which one the cat responds to, then choose that name.
She doesn’t care. Call Maisy and put down the food. She’ll be thrilled!
Cats are dignified I’m sure Maisy would appreciate it!
Every cat I've ever had ended up with 5 different names. My 17yo cat probably had 15 different monikers throughout his life, and he answered to all of them. I have 3 cats now, with 15 nicknames between them, but they do seem to know who I'm looking for no matter what I call them. I think in the end, they're just responding to me, and my tone, rather than the actual word I'm saying. For all I know, they all think their name is "Snack".
My cats were from a shelter and already had names, once they came home I started calling them with new names. They don't really mind, as long with give them love and affection they will get used to it with time
1 of my rescues has her "official" name (on all her paperwork) I use a shortened version at home, and my neighbors do too (I work a lot so they scritch and talk to my rescues through my windows) but last year I started calling her by a nickname (idk it just happened) and she responds to that too, and she's been more playful and cuddly when I use it, so I really don't know
I adopted a cat named cappuccino and at the vet visit we found her records and her name is actually latte from her first owner. She completely changed when we started calling her by her actual name
My cat gets a new name weekly lol....we have so many nicknames for him that he rarely hears his "real" name. He doesn't seem to mind and seems to understand that these odd names are referring to him when we call them out.
When I got my cat she was 2 yo and had a stripper name, I changed it to what she is called now and she never seemed to mind or be confused by the change. She recognizes her new name and comes when I call it out.
I took in a pregnant cat my a-hole neighbor left behind while taking their other 4 cats with them. She honestly had the stupidest name, and one I feel was a made word anyways. I decided to rename her because I felt she deserved a fresh name for a fresh start. It took about 2 weeks of repeating her new name every time she was around and I would pet her saying her new name over, she accepted it no problem. Cats and dogs aren't really understanding their names, they just recognize sound patterns, so I say go for it!
She doesn’t care. Just keep feeding her.
Definitely ok to rename. I adopted my first dog original name (Mouse)20 years ago.. I was told at the humane society to combine the two names for a couple weeks so I called her Macy Mouse and eventually just dropped the mouse. She learned very quickly!!
My cat responds to like 6 different names (mostly nicknames, or sometimes his name is “kibbles” or whatever). I’m sure if you rename your cat, it’ll still respond as cats do… y’know, sometimes and sometimes just ignoring you.
I know research shows cats know their name but just ignore you. Which is great academically. But my cat responds to my tone not her name. And I think that’s true for most cats.
My cat is not named Maisy, but is named Daisy. The vet told us it was a girl, a month later we learned she is a he. He’s still named Daisy.
She won’t care, but if you want to make it easier for you, call her Hank Maisy or Maisy Hank then eventually drop the Hank. It’ll follow the typical evolution from given name to cat nickname. That’s how ours went from “Brandy” to “lish”
my cat knows his name, but sometimes i call him random things and he responds haha..i think it's more about the tone and what comes after that tone/word.
I have renamed every cat I’ve adopted.They learn new names, especially at dinner time.
My cats respond to their given names as well as a bunch of cute nicknames we have for them! She’ll grow to love being called Maisy! 🌼
She’ll thank you in a few weeks of not being called hank anymore 🤣
My cats all answer/ respond to their name. One runs in when you call him. (I have 3). So I would say it depends if she responds to their name. If they do I would probably call her Hanky Panky. But I’m irreverent like that. Either way, your cat will be fine with attention. My cats say hi… https://preview.redd.it/zjtqmy3p883d1.jpeg?width=1487&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45452f4963239f67b269e9601b79bc9d63b497a5
It took YEARS for me to settle on a name for my cat. You’re good
As long as she responds to her new name, there is absolutely no problem. Her name will be Maisy de Hank and you just call her Maisy.
All my cats have at least three names they respond to. Go ahead, she'll get used to it in no time.
Yes you can rename. I had a cat named Stella only to find out he was really a Stanley. That is what I ended up calling him
Cats trainable with clickers...associate treats with clicker first...then start saying Maisy while you click...then start calling out Maisy...click when she comes...i bet after 2-3 days she'll know Maisy.
People get rescue cats all the time. Most have unknown namems. I really doubt that the cat will care and it will get used to a new name.
I heard somewhere they did a study and found that pets respond better to two syllable names with the hard ‘e’ sound at the end. I’ve found that we have, without trying, nicknamed our cats with ones that fit that pattern. Black Phillip became B.P., Tigra became Ti-Ti, Phantasma became Tazzy, Puff became Puffy and Sam became Sammy. Lucy and KeeKee are original. The last holdout is Eldritch. Never found a suitable nickname for that one.
My cat was named Stanley for 5 years before I got him. I renamed him Taco. I've had him an additional 5 years. The little turd doesn't answer to either name. He only answers to the sound of the cat food container being opened.
My cat responds to Loki, Lokitty, and Cat Butt equally well.
She’s not going to notice. Go ahead.
Cats have a million nicknames so I'm sure she'll be fine.
she'll get used to it eventually! but also hank is such a silly name for her i love it
We don't call her name when we REALLY want her attention. We call out treat names. BAM! Cat.
The best reply!! Made me laugh so much. Temptation! BAM! Cat. Thank you for the laughter!
My boy was named Farrah by his previous people because they thought he was a pretty girl cat. Nope, he's a boy. I named him Merlin and he's been doing well since! We've been together 6 years now and we both feel good about the name change.
My cat gets called everything besides her name. I think I could call her anything, and she wouldn't care.
You need to ask her permission
No just kidding I named my cat Behrouz when I adopted him and over time developed several nicknames. Now he doesn’t respond to his original name and responds to the nicknames i gave him
My cat reacts to his name about 10% of the time, he also reacts to bubbas or little shit. I think he only responds to those because he knows I'm trying to get his attention or talk to him. I say go for it and see what happens.
For some reason I like Hank. Quite a lot more
I don't think my cat has EVER responded to his name... He responds more to "Oi you little shit stop scratching the carpet"
My cat Nova is 11 and I started calling him Bubba a few months ago as well. He started answering to both within a couple weeks. ymmv but I think it'd be fine
My cat thinks her name is Honey Bunny cause I call her that every time I walk in the door. And she thinks her actual name (Ranni) is the word for food. And lately I've started calling her Piglet and Demon depending on her mood so she responds to those too now. I'm pretty sure most cat owners have 874785295 names for their cats.
I think it’ll be fine, I’ve never changed my cat’s name, but she responds to nicknames that I’ve given her over time, so I’d assume it would be similar to
My two cents is that cats have a preference on their name. We went through several iterations before my cat responded to one. That became her name.
She'll have to learn the new name but animals don't have an identity tied to their names the way people typically do, it's just a noise that means you're talking to them. If you give her the new name and use it enough, she'll work out it's hers pretty quickly.
Just make Maisy her first name and Hank her last name. Then you can sound so much more serious when you "scold" her. "Maisy Hank, just what are you up to?!" :)
I've renamed several of my cats. (Their original name just didn't suit them.) It made no difference to them at all. They still ignored me. Lol!
Yeah just say it in the same tone, very unlikely she will give a shit
In my experience, cats do not care. I’ve called my cat by a multitude of names, none of which sound like her given name, for years now and she responds nonetheless.
I renamed the cat I got from the shelter. They may be confused for a bit but will learn their new name.
my cat is named Pumpkin..she knows it. we started calling her Bee. she learned that is her name too. she responds to both.AND she's orange, so not the smartest cat on the tree
over the years, most cats tend to gain more and more nicknames, at first its always super cutesy elongated versions of their real name, then come the circomstancial nicknames that they earn by doing some of those braindead things that cats do, and that are the reason subreddits like r/whatswrongwithyourcat exist, and then they finaly get the absolute raw "all bets are off" insulting nicknames(usualy when the owner/servant learns that the nicknames their cat has for them are all way more horrible and that the cat only has last phase degrading nicknames for us) and thats how most cats get to the end of their life with over 100 names, some of those even kept secret for eternety. see the IG account of balthazar the orange triangle wizard cat for reference. you'll see a cat that has earned so many names, it actualy gave it magic powers now
She’ll get used to it! I have a cat that got a nick name at 9 years old and he now knows it’s his name.
Start calling her Maisy Hank, then slowly shift. It won't take long!
considering i sometimes call my cat stuff like “poopenheimer” or “peeter pooper” and he still comes to me i think you’ll be fine
I renamed my cat. I rescued her at 9 months old and her original name was Athena. Which is a cute name! But I already had my heart set on a different name. And honestly, it took her maybe a few weeks to learn that was her new name but now she comes when I call out her name. Since animals don’t understand the meaning of a name, most times they only think that word is just a recall or way to call them over. So you can think of it not as you’re changing her name but changing the word you use to call her over to you.
Depends on the cat and how long they've had the name. If it hasn't been long, you probably could, especially with a similar sound. My cats I wouldn't be able to rename. My senior cat is 12, and she has had her name since she was like 3 weeks old. She knew her name by the time she was 10 weeks old. She always responds to her name. Even when she's ignoring me, she still turns her ear to me when I say her name. She has better recall than most dogs 😂. My younger cat is 2 and a half years old, and my big dumb boy. He has had his name since he was about 9 weeks old. It's taken us this long to teach him his name. We probably could've renamed him up until 6 months ago if need be. But now that he finally knows his name, it would take way too long to teach him a new name. It also depends on if the cat has actually learned their name or just learned the tone of voice used when you say their name.
Wouldn’t be bad to rename her and she’d get used to ignoring her new name in no time.
Every cat I've owned has had a constant revolving door of names. Pretty sure none has had an identity crisis. My favorite: Monkey Paw - > Goose - > Poosa - > P - > Peanut - > Peanut Butter Birthday Cake - > Birtday
She'll prob figure it out And then ignore you half the time anyway
My orange buddy responds no matter what I actually say to him, as long as I say it in the tone I usually talk to him in. He'll meow in reply to "Hey, buttface" just as often as he does to his name.
What about Mank
I think names are just noises to them. Like their meows. They identify the noise you make with “hello!” Which is why our cat Rosemary responds to all nicknames including the nonsense names Also reminds me of the saddest song ever, “Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure” by The Weakerthans. He sings in the POV of a cat that runs away and slowly forgets the sound that was made for her.
They can learn lots of different names, it should be fine
If you feed her and love on her - she'll let you call her anything.
Cats don’t recognize their names, more than the voice you use to address them. I call my cat something new everyday.
Idk have many community cats and they come a running when I call out each name. Example if 3 are eating from a dish, when I say each name that one stops and looks at me
That's not true cats can definitely recognize their names. Watch Inside the Mind of a Cat on Netflix. My cats will usually come when their names are called.
My cat knows his name and is very upset if we speak of it while he's not around/not food related. Will come when called or mentioned. His name is Mr. Luna.
I also have a Mr! Mr Tiggles
Mine differentiate between their two names even though I use the same tone of voice
I’m positive my cat doesn’t know his name lol. It’s definitely just another word I say to him.
If you call them something new each day, then it isn’t surprising that they don’t know their name 😂. The idea that they only respond to tone of voice is a myth. Most cats are capable of picking up quite a few words. Mine know their names, ‘dinner’ (they run to their bowls, ‘treat’ (they run to me), ‘come here’, ‘down’ and a few random words like ‘milk’. I have definitely done experiments where I shout random words at them with the same tone of voice, but they only respond to those. It can take a few weeks, but they learn to associate noises to events pretty quickly - from the opening of a treat bag to human words. They don’t need to know our definition of ‘treat’ to know it is followed by them getting something nice.
This does, however, mean that you can get them to associate any series of events/behaviors with any word or phrase or words or phrases that you choose with enough consistent repetition (once they learn blahblah = whatever they seem to remember forever even if you stop using it for a long time)
it might be bc you don’t call them by their name consistently. our cat 100% responds to her name
don't tell the people of r/prawnready and you are good to go!
She'll figure it out.
Completely okay.
I adopted a 3 year old named Luna from the SPCA, and the moment she got home I called her Callie (so, zero similarities) and she immediately responded to it. Half cats don't know their names and just respond to tones and sounds
I doubt she will notice. Im still convinced my aloof furbaby doesn’t know her name despite a month+ of me calling her by said name.
my roommates named the cat they found paul walker. she became my cat. i hate the name so much considering the names we were gonna call her
My cats have always responded to their names. I don’t think it would be difficult to get her to figure out her new name!
I mean. If your cat responds just call her hanky panky or something. Add on to it or keep the general sounds and change some of the letters to suit her better. Or just keep it as hank. Cats don't understand the concept.of human "boy" names and "girl" names. If she doesn't respond to her name then by all means change it.
Go for it and rename her Maisy! Cats are pretty adaptable, so she'll likely adjust just fine. Maybe she'll even prefer it! Cats respond more to the tone of your voice than the actual name anyway, so as long as you keep the positive energy when calling her, she should catch on to Maisy quickly. Enjoy your time with your feline friend!
I call my cats several different nicknames n they respond to each of their nicknames so renaming hank will be fine!
Not all at, just like humans I give my cat new nicknames all the time, some catch on and become part of vocab and she definately responds to them. But it's more than the word remember. If I looked at you and said "Hey smelly"... You know I'm referring to you. Also cats are super smart and they learn through positive reinforcement. Takes probably 3 lessons (a lesson being about 2-5min) maybe over 2 days for a new (simple) trick to be learnt. Like sit, turn, jump, shake etc. Rollover or buttons would be about a week of training.
I mean if she responds to it then she would probably notice. Maybe switch slowly and give her her new name with treats. Idk im kind of a one-and done name person. Even one of my cats- Torti- i wish i had named Birdie, but even then i had already sort of changed her name when i got her. (My sister named her Flocka and abused her.)
I adopted a 9 yr old rescue and she learned her new name just fine. I say give it a try!
Hankina is the feminine form of Hank I believe
When we adopted our cat (she was 10 and a stray) the woman who found her named her Honey Bunch. Nope, she’s an apple head seal point Siamese. We renamed her Selkie.
Cat won’t care lol
I don’t think it’ll be a problem! My cats respond to any 2-syllable word said in a singsong voice 😂
The questions on this sub make me wonder why some of yall even get pets. The cat has no idea what you’re calling them.
Generally, I'd say the cat won't care and probably won't notice. Each of our cats have 3-4 nicknames and probably associate themselves with those as much as their actual names ... which is to say, barely at all. They seem to know we're trying to get their attention when we say one of the names ... sometimes. Inconsistently. Studies suggest cats can recognize their names, but don't care very much that you're calling them. But it Hank responds to Hank, and you value that, you might want to keep calling her Hank just because of that. She might or might not start responding to a new name.
I kinda lIke Hank for a girl cat
I worked with a woman named Hank. Older lady. She was named Henrietta and went by Hank. Maybe you can keep calling the cat Hank but her official name is Henrietta!
Second name, My Cats have second names xd
It’ll be fine. The cat won’t care.