All about Gorbachev and his pals Elvis, Persephone and Aloysious

My name is Gorbachev. Why is my name Gorbachev?  Well you see, Lisa was studying Russian at the time I came into the picture and you can see I have a dark spot on my forehead...hence, Gorbachev.  For resume purposes, I do understand a little Russian (as well as Japanese and Spanish - I'm a pretty worldly cat).  The cool thing is with a name like Gorbachev I get cool nicknames like Gorbzilla, Gorbster, Gorbinator...new ones are discovered all the time!

I was born in December of 1989 and have lived in Boston my whole life.  I'm fond of birds, children, snacks (especially of the shrimp variety)...and a huge fan of hamburgers.  You see, no meat in our house as Lisa is a vegetarian.  Occasionally, Waldo gets a burger for dinner from a local take-out joint and let me tell you -- its heaven :)

I've never been sick 'til the recent diagnosis of feline diabetes (April 2001).  I was in pretty tough shape and spent a week in ICU at Angell Memorial (where they took great care of me).  Now that I'm home I'm an insulin dependent diabetic which means I get 2 shots a day.  The shots don't bother me too much, but freaked Lisa out the first couple of days.  I don't really feel the shots - but I like to play it like I do for sympathy. 

If you'd like to see how I get my shots, click here to watch a clip via media player. (coming soon)

As a diabetic I'm also on a feeding schedule - no snacks whenever I want..but I do get a lot of fresh chicken and green beans - pretty nice dinner...and I do get a whole lot of freeze dried shrimp - not as good as a burger but pretty close!

Over the past months I've put on most of the weight I lost when I was in the hospital and am doing pretty well.  I'd like to give a shout out to all my peeps on the Feline Diabetes Message Board - the sugarcats and beans there have been so supportive and helpful that I hope one day I can return the favor.  If you're a sugarcat, or owned by one, please visit the FDMB to learn all you can about FD, its treatment, and to just swap tails - that's a pun, not a spelling error ;)

Elvis

I am essentially Gorb's brother, though I was on the scene before Gorb -- making me about 12 years old this September.  I came from the MSPCA and lived with Lisa and her college roommate but seemed a little lonely, so Lisa decided to bring Gorb into the apartment as well.

Its been a pretty good 12 years, pretty cushy lifestyle - good food - no real complaints.  Gorb and I often look like mirror images of each other with the way we sit or lay down - and we like to curl up together like the Tao yin and yan symbols. 

I've got a girlfriend Persephone that's a little later down the page.  My favorite things to do are race from one end of the house to another like my tail's on fire and to sit in boxes.  Since Gorb is like a brother to me, when he was in hospital I got pretty stressed out and like most of you - overate to compensate.  As such I'm on a bit of a diet right now - not thrilled with that...but I know that the beans don't need any feline health issues right now so its the least I can do for them.

Persephone

Well, as you can see from my picture I am a lovely 8 year old-ish maine coone cat.  And I'm a "big girl", weighing in at about 20 pounds.  The beans have tried everything to get me to lose weight, I'm just big boned I guess as nothing works.  Right now I'm on a low-carb diet...not too successful however.

I have a pretty close relationship with Elvis, meaning we eat off the same plate usually.  Otherwise, not so much into cats in my face.  I do appreciate Gorb - but he seems to get a kick out of backing me in a corner just to hear me hiss (and boy can I hiss).  Aly is okay but I try to stay out of her way as she is a little violent.

I came into the house when I was about a year old.  Gorb and Elvis were getting a little lazy and fat so the beans thought bringing some new blood in was a good idea.  I came to them via a friend and was a lab rescue.  It goes without saying that our household besides being vegetarian (except for us cats) is 100% animal friendly - nothing with animal ingredients and nothing that's been tested on animals.  If you're interested in keeping animals like me out of the hands of so-called scientists, you can check out some of my fave web sites:  The National Anti-Vivisection Society and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

I do have some quirks - I don't jump I'm afraid...living your first year in a cage means you never really learn how to jump.  And for the first months I was here with the gang everyone thought my vocal cords had been cut as I didn't make a sound -- but now you can't shut me up!

Aloysious

Well...I've turned just seven and have been here my whole life.  My mother cat was hit by a car and I was found nearby (I was a wee little thing).  The beans took me in, nursed me, carried me around in pockets 'til my eyes opened and I could get around myself...and though I'm the smallest I'm the toughest. 

I think they refer to me as the "alpha" as the other cats are just a little bit afraid of me - but I'm just trying to keep the gang in line.  Not so much a people person, though I'm very keen of all my Japanese friends..Americans make too much noise when they come over so I usually hide in the closet.

I'd like to be a vegetarian - though folks keep telling me I can't be...though I do often get green bean snacks (my fave).  Some of my favorite web sites are My Cat Hates You , Get Fuzzy (a comic drawn by a Boston-area artist that I think may have heard of me as I resemble main character Bucky in many ways) and BBC (I like my news like I like my vegetables, fresh and straight up).