Have you ever agonized over choosing the purrfect name for your cat?

While some people are happy with Fluffy or Snowball, some new cat owners are looking for a more unique name for their new feline. These owners are the type to have a Siamese kitten dubbed Chairman Meow or a calico kitten called Purrty Woman.

But what if your new kitten has already been named? Most breeders will have given the kitten a call name long before it is old enough to go to its permanent home. If it is a rescue cat, it may have already been answering to a name, perhaps for years.

So, can you change a cat's name when it joins your family? Should you? If you change its name will the cat be confused? Stressed? How much of a cat's identity is actually tied to its name?"

While there have been no scientific studies done on the effects of renaming a cat, anecdotal evidence and years of owning cats makes it clear that changing a cat's name really has little effect on the feline in question.

The cat's name plays little part in the feline-human bond. It is how you treat your cat and the relationship you forge with it that is most important. The cat doesn't really care what you call it. It listens more to your tone of voice.

So go ahead and rename your new kitten if you want to. I like the sound of Mewhammad Alley for that rescue kitty with the frost-bitten ears . . . it has more style than the name he came with — Blackie.