Nation's Leading Pet Insurer Reveals Most Popular Dog and Cat Names for 2005

PR Newswire ^ | December, 2005

[SJackson]

BREA, Calif., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- As the holidays and the New Year quickly approach, animal lovers may plan on adding a new pet to their family. Veterinarians from Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI) suggest that new pet owners take time to get to know their new fuzzy family member before deciding on a permanent name.

Below are the most popular names for dogs and cats for 2005 among policyholders with VPI, the nation's oldest and largest provider of health insurance for pets.

Dogs 1. Max 2. Baily 3. Buddy 4. Molly 5. Maggie 6. Lucy 7. Daisy 8. Bella 9. Jake 10 Rocky

Cats 1. Max 2. Tigger 3. Smokey 4. Tiger 5. Chloe 6. Shadow 7. Lucy 8. Angel 9. Oliver 10. Simba

For the third year in a row, Max is the nation's most popular pet name, based on an analysis of VPI's 360,000 pet insurance policies.

"Many pet owners consider their pets to be members of their family. As such, they give them human names like Max, Molly or Maggie, which underscores the fact that the human-animal bond is stronger than ever," says Dr. Carol McConnell, manager of veterinary education and services for VPI. "New pet owners should spend quality time with their pets, especially in the first week, to establish daily patterns of behavior and to recognize unique traits in the pet that translate into a name, such as 'Happy' or 'Diva'."

Other suggestions for naming a new pet, says Dr. McConnell, include selecting a name that is short and easy to pronounce, and to be careful not to choose a name that is too similar to a command, such as Neil or Joe, which might be confused with "heal" or "no."

About Veterinary Pet Insurance Veterinary Pet Insurance Co./DVM Insurance Agency is the nation's oldest and largest health insurance provider for pets. Providing pet owners with peace of mind since 1982, the company is committed to making the miracles of veterinary medicine affordable for all pet owners. VPI Pet Insurance plans cover dogs, cats, birds and exotic pets for thousands of medical problems and conditions relating to accidents, illnesses and injuries. Optional Vaccination & Routine Care Coverage is also available.

Policies are available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Policies are underwritten by Veterinary Pet Insurance Company in California and in all other states by National Casualty Company, an A+15 rated company in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information about VPI Pet Insurance policies, call 800-USA-PETS (800-872-7387) or visit http://www.petinsurance.com/.

[AnAmericanMother]

That is such a proud moment to meet a dog of your breeding doing such a stellar job! Our high performance retrievers in the club are all the "little red dogs". And they are beautiful, but harder to work with than the Labs . . . definitely too much for a beginner like me.

I've had a couple of judges comment on how much drive my little girl has . . . must think she has something to prove to all those big lanky guys. She swims like a torpedo boat -- actually leaves a curling wake -- and in her first stick pond experience in November she was bound and determined to GET that *&(&^^*%$ duck . . . she did more crawling and squeezing than she did swimming. And when she got there the d***ed thing had sunk out of sight . . . so our bird boy tossed her a (somewhat) fresher one so she'd get a reward for all her hard work. The first duck must have sunk to the bottom of the pond, because we sent three experienced dogs out to look for it (one a GRHRCH) and they couldn't come up with it. I hope the fish enjoyed it. . .

And she has ALL her full complement of whiskers.

This is a collage shot of one of our club's training sessions. You have never met a nicer bunch of people - about evenly split between Bubbas and effete suburbanites like yours truly -- with the little Choc.

[Fawn]

I wish people would stop breeding animals.....so many are killed because of it.

[Squantos]

As I type this my three rotts, Tenifer, Chaos and Havoc are looking very worried as I ask ......."We can get life insurance for a friggin dog" ?!?!?!?!?

[Squantos]

When my niece was real little I let her name my first rott Fluffy......:o)

Fluffy has since passed away......

[Dog Gone]

A rott named Fluffy. OMG!

That perhaps is the one dog that can get away with being named Fluffy. Maybe a pit bull could, also.

ROFL

[AnAmericanMother]

I wish people would stop breeding animals.....so many are killed because of it.

I think what you mean, if you would think about it, is that you wish people would stop indiscriminately breeding animals. First of all and especially the puppy mills, the bulk breeders for profit. But second, the "backyard breeders" who don't know what they're doing. And on that I agree with you one hundred percent.

I used to breed and show Siamese cats back in the 70s and 80s. My cats were very highly bred and much in demand - I had a waiting list and I interviewed everyone who wanted one of my kittens. The sale agreement had a buy-back clause - if they ever needed to get rid of the kitten for any reason, I would take it back. (I never had one come back and I kept in touch with all the owners.)

Same thing with dogs. I wish I hadn't spayed my girl, but it was the responsible thing to do at the time as a new dog owner who wasn't planning to breed. But we got into performance events and she is multiple-titled in agility and has her first hunting retriever title. On top of that, she is royally bred on both sides, with 2 Am/Can conformation champions and one Am champion on one side and multiple FC/AFC field trial dogs on the other. So as long as I bred her to a well-bred and titled dog (and, sadly, I have two in mind who would have been perfect 'nicks') I not only could have named my price, I would have a waiting list.

The problem is not with the well bred performance dogs.

[Publius6961]

Ping. Not sure I buy those dog names.

You may be right.
When I told Scooby he didn't make the top ten he gave me "the look"...
On the other hand, we do have Lucy next door.

[Publius6961]

And if you DO get barn cats, you had better take good care of them, or I will hunt you down like a field mouse. Cats are the greatest thing on the planet.

Awww.
G'wan!

You wouldn't be elebenty feet tall, would you?

[teenyelliott]

what the HAIL are you doing reading crap thats a year old??????????

[TWfromTEXAS]

based on an analysis of VPI's 360,000 pet insurance policies.

And there is the problem. Not a lot of hunting dogs, SPCA adopter's, and mutts.