First, I am assuming he is a male given his personality and demeanor. If and when I get him to the vet, I’ll know for certain either way. I’m forced to make this assumption until and unless I find out otherwise because Persians have such long hair and I do not know him well enough to go poking around his business end.
Second, I’ve named him Vazra. In Old Persian, vazraka means “great” and was often used as part of the Old Persian name for Cyrus the Great: Khorvash Vazraka (Kourosh-e Bozorg in modern Persian).
By the way, that’s pronounced just like Basra except — and obviously — with a V instead of a B. To wit: väs’ rə or vaaz’ ruh.
Why did I name him Vazra? As you may have guessed already, it’s a reference to Cyrus the Great (a.k.a. Cyrus II of Persia and Cyrus the Elder) who founded the Persian Empire and subsequently conquered Babylon. I was looking for a name to represent both his being a Persian cat as well as his proclivity for excessive talking. Since Babylon played into that (think “babble on”), I wanted to integrate both ideas into a single name.
Cyrus the Great would be the best reference point to both Persia and Babylon since he founded one and conquered the other. Therefore, his name was my starting point. That left me with the following options:
- Cyrus (Latin)
- Kyros (Greek)
- Kourosh-e Bozorg (modern Persian-derived)
- Koresh (Hebrew)
- Khorvash Vazraka (Old Persian)
- Kabir (modern Persian for “great”)
My logic went thusly:
LD has a son named Cyrus (xocobra’s stepson), so that name automatically was dropped from consideration.
Anything beginning with the letter K also was dropped since I already have Kako and Kazon, an intentional use of similar names since they are The Twins.
Koresh not only lost because of the K issue, but it also lost because of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians (a.k.a. Waco Davidians). That name never had a chance.
Bozorg was dropped since it looks and sounds too much like the Borg from Star Trek.
Vash (a derivative of Khorvash), which technically means “like” in Old Persian, is the name of a character from Star Trek who in no way represents the kitty.
That left vazraka, but I didn’t particularly like the way it sounded — until I dropped the “ka” at the end. Suddenly I had Vazra, a name pleasing to the ears, easy on the tongue, and it still means something specific to the cat.
And yes, I am quite anal about naming pets. Names should mean something in my opinion. Each of The Kids was named after careful consideration. I already explained Kako and Kazon, and you can see the explanation for Chira’s name in this post. Grendel and Loki are explained on their respective pages found at those links.
As for my burgeoning relationship with Vazra, that is going quite well. In fact, I believe I will be able to get him to the vet in the next one or two weeks. That is making some large assumptions, of course, but things are going quite well with my attempts. He’s an extremely friendly cat; that’s why I suspect he was dumped (he’s not feral). He loves attention, he tells you what’s on his mind, he’s very affectionate, and he is drawn to people rather than fearful of them. I can’t make any guesses as to how he might react to the rest of The Kids since I have only observed their interaction through the windows. He’s never tried to attack them, so that’s a good sign.
Anyhow, as long as he does not pose a health risk to the rest of the fur people, I will try to adopt him. It’ll require time and will be ugly now and again. Of that I’m sure given it’s an introduction of one adult feline into a home of four adult felines. Kittens are easier under such circumstances since they don’t represent a challenge to the existing group. In addition, they are not set in their ways, so they adapt to the household. Adult cats, however, already have habits that may or may not fit into the existing family. Such circumstances tend to mean more fights and animosity. It will be important to ensure Vazra does not become miserable because the other four are ganging up on him. It’s equally important to make sure the other four do not feel threatened or jealous should he come inside as that would increase the tension between them and toward him. It’s a balancing act.
I will keep you posted since I have much hope that he can become a member of the family barring health issues. If he does pose a risk to the rest of The Kids, however, I will still adopt him as my outside cat.
As David and Libby mentioned this morning, my description of all of this makes it sound as though he already is my cat. I suspect that’s true. He’s already adopted me to a great degree, so perhaps I’m the only one who didn’t realize the adoption already had taken place. I can be slow sometimes…
Please note I’ve not forgotten I need to grab some photos of him. I will try to do that in the next few days. If nothing else, it will demonstrate how terrible the hair knots are and the kind of damage they’ve done to him. It’s painful to even look at it. Still, a good grooming should solve all of that, and I intend to make that happen as soon as possible.
Last but not least… I still have not seen Chira. It’s now been 10 days since his last visit. From the first day I started to befriend him he’s never been gone longer than two days, and even at that I can not be certain he was gone since he may well have visited while I was out, busy, not paying attention, or otherwise occupied. Regardless of the circumstances, no more than two days would go by before I would see him again, and there is always food available on the patio to make sure he knew he could come here for a meal and safety. I am very — VERY — concerned about him. I want desperately to believe he’s been adopted and is being cared for by someone; I fear the worst.
