# Your pet adoption stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 28, 2025, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pet-adoption-stories/1026127 "2025-12-28T20:32:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pet-adoption-stories/1026127/21 "2025-12-31T07:00:58Z")
Ugh. That’s the part I don’t like. On the way home, we stopped at the vet’s. My son and I stayed nt the car while my husband went inside. When he came out, he said they’d asked for a name, and because the dog was mostly white, he said, “Whitey.” I groaned. He said we could always change it. I said, “You wait. It’ll end up being permanent.” Every name one of us suggested, the other vetoed. The name stuck. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pet-adoption-stories/1026127/22 "2025-12-31T07:27:24Z")
I did that once, called a puppy Midget meaning to just use it as an affectionate nickname, but it stuck as her actual name. She was a German Shepherd/Airedale cross. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pet-adoption-stories/1026127/23 "2025-12-31T15:16:33Z")
We had a cat named Whitey, for the same reason. Dumb name but a good cat. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pet-adoption-stories/1026127/24 "2025-12-31T23:45:38Z")
I adopted a kitten many years ago when I drove past a house with a “Free Kittens” sign. As I carried my wriggly little fur bundle back to my car I said “Stop struggling, you little Muffin. [pause] Oh, my, I think I named you.” And so it was. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pet-adoption-stories/1026127/25 "2026-01-01T00:58:26Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I did that once, called a puppy Midget meaning to just use it as an affectionate nickname, but it stuck as her actual name. > > She was a German Shepherd/Airedale cross. 🙂 Oh, that gave me a good laugh. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pet-adoption-stories/1026127/26 "2026-01-01T01:07:52Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > “Stop struggling, you little Muffin. [pause] Oh, my, I think I named you.” And so it was. I love this! To continue the name saga about 5 years after we got the white dog, I pushed for getting a second dog. W. was 10, and the average lifespan of an English setter is 10-12 years. (Who knew he’d live to age 17?) I thought a second dog would soften the blow for the kids. Well, another teacher had a dog he planned to shoot. His son had given a black lab puppy to his girlfriend as a gift a year or so earlier. They broke up, and she brought back the dog, which they didn’t want. The poor dog had had and weaned a litter of pups before she was a year old. She was tied up outside within snacking range of the trash, so she had worms (two kinds). And she had a gash on her shoulder which had been stitched with 20 lb. test fishing line. She was a gentle, loving, smelly soul, who I think saved my life. Her name was Sadie. For no good reason, I didn’t much like that name, either. I tried to get the hubs and kids to call her “Shady,” thinking that might make “Whitey” sound better, but it was a no-go. There’s more to her story, but it doesn’t fit the topic, so I’ll shut up now. I love reading all these pet stories! ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pet-adoption-stories/1026127/27 "2026-01-01T05:25:42Z")
My wife and I have had a number of cats over the past 40+ years, all except my very first (a calico Angora named Princess Alexandra of Denmark, or Sandy for short) adopted as strays or from friends/relatives who couldn’t keep them any longer. There have only been brief periods where we were catless, and we had 6 for several years. Our current cat is apparently a pure-bred Siamese who my sister-in-law found in her back yard and was unable to find anyone in the nieghbourhood who had lost her. Namewise, when I was a teen, the rest of the family went down East to a family wedding and came back with a tuxedo kitten who had been hanging around their motel. He stayed for 16 years as TC - short for The Cat - because my sisters couldn’t agree on a name for him. Another stray kitten acquired a few years later became LC - for Little Cat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pet-adoption-stories/1026127.md?page=1)