‘My step daughter refuses to speak to me as she hates the name I gave our cat’

A man has taken to Reddit to share how he named his cat Speed Bump after rescuing it from a busy road, but his step daughter hates the name and wants him to change it immediately

When it comes to picking out a pet’s name, it could be argued owners have more creative freedom than parents have when naming their child. This is because nobody is going to pick on an animal for its name, while they might have something to say when they bump into your child on the school playground.

But one man made his step daughter cry over the name he picked out for their rescue cat, with the eight-year-old claiming it’s a “horrible name”. He explained: “I rescued a nine week old kitten from the middle of a busy street. After a trip to the vet for assessment and chip scanning and a thorough search of local social media we decided to keep him.

“They [the vet] approved of the adoption via telephone and left it up to me to decide his name.

“I picked Speed Bump to be his name because he almost became a Speed Bump before I rescued him.”

The rescue centre didn’t seem to bat an eyelid at the name and signed him up to their database under that name.

However, when he later told his step daughter the name he’d picked out for the cat, she started to cry, urging him to change it immediately.

He added on Reddit : “Upon learning this name and why I picked it my stepdaughter burst into tears and told me that was a horrible name,” he added.

“She wants to name him something different, and I am considering surrendering the point even though his pet license and microchip all say Speed Bump.

“Even my wife agrees the name was in poor choice and now whenever we say the kitten’s name we will have to think about him getting run over.

“I suggested Skid Mark as an alternative and now my step daughter won’t speak to me. I concede that doing this pushes me into a***hole territory.

While most users couldn’t help but laugh at the name Speed Bump, others urged him to change it if he wants a quiet life.

One user said: “That name is hilarious. Horribly inappropriate, but hilarious. You knew it was inappropriate, so just relent and call him Lucky. You can consider his full name to be, ‘Lucky He Wasn’t a Speed Bump’.”

Another user added: “I got to admit that I chuckled a bit at that name – and thank you for saving this kitty’s life.

“But I can see why it would upset them too, especially your stepdaughter as she’s so young.

“I have four cats and each one has their real name, but also several nicknames I’ve given them and each cat responds to whatever name I say. So you can go that route maybe?”

However, not everybody was impressed by the cat’s name, with a third user saying “I really dislike people giving their pets horrible, insensitive names.

“Speed Bump because he almost got run over. Hilarious. Just like naming a pet pig Pork Chop because so many of its brethren end up as such. Again. So funny.

“You really couldn’t come up with a positive spin on the situation? Lucky or something?”

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