Ketzel vs Ketzela

Is it easier to inherit a cat that already has been named than to choose a name? That depends. . . for me it’s never easy to name anything that will become part of my life forever. It was easy with Giselle because my sister had named her before we took her home. She chose the name Giselle because she reminded my sister of a ballet dancer, with long legs and a delicate pointy face. Growing up, my parents named one of our cats Ketzel, which is Yiddish for ‘little cat’. Ketzel wasn’t so little. He grew into a large proud male, who taught me how to play-fight with him. He’d pounce on the sheets as I made my bed, and give me surprise attacks from time to time. He didn’t hesitate to use his claws up and down my arms. Gigi is more refined when we ‘fight’— because she knows not to use her claws—and this I attribute to that age old truth about females being evolved beyond the coarser instincts of males.