Kitties are only known to Devore shelter staff by their intake numbers. They are never given names at the shelter – so we have designated members name kitties when their listings are posted on our Facebook page. They’re going by a photo so there’s really no way to know for certain if the name actually captures the kitty’s personality. Once a kitty is out of the shelter and in our care, sometimes foster parents feel the name they were given doesn’t really suit them. Foster parents are absolutely entitled to change their foster kitty’s name once they are in their care.
The primary rule about name changes is that there cannot be any duplicate names in our system. Double-ups create too much confusion when it comes to record-keeping and doing record searches. If we have 4 Bellas, trying to determine which snap test belongs to which Bella can be time consuming and leaves us open to potential errors with documentation. So, this may require you to get a little creative with the spelling if you’re inclined toward a more commonly used name. You might also consider adding a prefix or suffix name to the main name to make it distinct.
For example, the name Ruby has already been used so one foster parent opted to go with the spelling of Rubie. She could have also used Roobee, Roobie, Rubee or Rooby. Or, she could have added a prefix name like Darling Ruby or Little Ruby or gone with a suffix name like Ruby-Lou or Ruby-Ann to make the name distinct from the already taken Ruby.
If you’d like to change your foster kitty’s name, first check to see if the name has already been used before in the A to Z Name Records. If it hasn’t, Renée will add the name to your foster kitty’s records. There will be some documents where the original shelter name will appear (the certificate outstanding list, for one) but otherwise, your kitty will be referred to by their new name once it’s been accepted. If the name has already been taken, you’ll be encouraged to come up with a variation as described above. Once you’ve decided on that, let Renée know and she’ll make the necessary adjustments in the records.