Choosing a name for a pet can be fun and exciting, but if you adopt a pet from a shelter, they may come with a name.
Some people choose to keep shelter names, but others choose fresh names to start over with. Reddit user u/RiverRiden was in the former camp, as she adopted a cat from a shelter who was named Millie.
She took to Reddit and said, “So I recently adopted a wonderful sweetie of a shelter cat named Millie. That’s the name that the shelter gave her. I thought it suited her and she responds to it, so I didn’t change it.”
Apparently, the Reddit user’s pregnant cousin, Carrie, also likes the name Millie, and she likes it so much that she wants to name her baby that.
While many people wouldn’t think twice about the name of pets when choosing a baby’s name, Carrie was seemingly bothered by her child sharing a name with an animal.
RiverRiden explained in the Reddit post, “[Carrie] DMed me to ask me to change Millie’s name, because she and her fiancé really liked that name for their daughter. I refused because my cat had her name first, and Carrie called me selfish for valuing a ‘stupid cat’ over her daughter. I told her that my cat is not stupid and that I wouldn’t mind if her baby shared a name with my cat, but if it was an issue for her, she could choose a different name. She again called me selfish and said she had to go.”
u/RiverRiden ended the post asking if she was being selfish as Carrie suggested, or if Carrie was being unreasonable. They added, “I went to my sister (a mother herself, so I hoped she’d offer some perspective) and she said that she understands where I was coming from but that babies should come before pets. She said that it would be really kind of me to change my cat’s name and that she knows how important a couple’s ‘dream name’ is.”
After the post was created, thousands of people jumped in to comment and share their thoughts. According to the people of Reddit, Carrie is absolutely being unreasonable since Millie had her name first.
“DON’T change your cat’s name. There are thousands of people and animals who share names. Your cousin can use the same or choose another,” one person commented. Others joked that she should change the cat’s name to “Carrie.”
I am broadly interested in how human activities influence the ability of wildlife to persist in the modified environments that we create.
Specifically, my research investigates how the configuration and composition of landscapes influence the movement and population dynamics of forest birds. Both natural and human-derived fragmenting of habitat can influence where birds settle, how they access the resources they need to survive and reproduce, and these factors in turn affect population demographics. Most recently, I have been studying the ability of individuals to move through and utilize forested areas which have been modified through timber harvest as they seek out resources for the breeding and postfledging phases. As well I am working in collaboration with Parks Canada scientists to examine in the influence of high density moose populations on forest bird communities in Gros Morne National Park. Many of my projects are conducted in collaboration or consultation with representatives of industry and government agencies, seeking to improve the management and sustainability of natural resource extraction.
