Broken Pawn: A Rabbit's Tale

Oreo (2007-2018)

  I never had a rabbit until I got married. One Easter Kathy said, “Come on. We’re going to get a rabbit.” We headed to a pet store in Scotch Plains and got a dwarf Polish rabbit we named Buster. Buster was all black and had a cage he stayed in but was smart enough to use a litter box and had the run of our apartment in back of Phil's barbershop in Hillside New Jersey. Buster nearly came to a bad end one evening when I came home from having my wisdom teeth taken out to find Buster had chewed through all the power cords on my computer. I eventually calmed down and Buster moved with us from New Jersey to Iowa. He was a friendly sort but when we got Queenie the beagle he was scared of her and would stay in his cage whenever she was around. One day we woke up and Buster was dead. There was no warning and we assumed he had a heart attack in the middle of the night.

  Our next rabbit was a big brown and white Dutch rabbit named Pogo. Our neighbors had gotten him from the high school and were moving so we took him in. Pogo was never scared of the dogs and had the run of the kitchen where he would hang out with the boots in the boot tray in the winter and sneak around to steal pieces of Queenie’s dog food (Queenie was a notoriously slow eater that would eat a little of her food every hour or so). One day in 2007 we woke up and Pogo was dead just like Buster.

  Within a week Kathy got a black and white Dutch rabbit from the local Earl May store. The new rabbit was named Oreo and was slightly bigger than Buster. While Buster was a homebody that was scared of the dogs and stayed in his cage and Pogo was content to hang around in the boot tray, Oreo was a rascally type that would roam all around the kitchen and beyond. Our house has a stairway that leads upstairs from the kitchen. If the door was left open, Oreo would scamper upstairs and hide in a bedroom under a bed. He rarely chewed on wires and had an affinity for staying under the bed just out of reach. I always had to get a baseball bat or a cane and chase him from under the bed, after which Oreo would hop at top speed down the hall and back downstairs to his kitchen area.

  Oreo was never afraid of Queenie and Tuffy and shared the kitchen with them happily. He did have a beef with the kitchen broom and would attack it whenever it got too close to him. For such a gentle fellow Oreo was surprisingly fierce when confronted by the kitchen broom. One day Kathy was substitute teaching and took Oreo with her for the kids to play with. Oreo was a big hit but never went back to school because Kathy found the kids couldn’t concentrate with a bunny nearby.

  A couple of years after we got Oreo, Queenie and Tuffy passed away within weeks of each other and I was suddenly dogless. I was depressed and spent a few minutes each day putting Oreo on my lap and petting him until he would get bored and start scampering around. Oreo was a good substitute dog and just the friend I needed. Oreo got along good with Daisy and Baxter when we got the beagle puppies a few weeks later but the little beagles were so rambunctious we were afraid they would stampede Oreo so we split the kitchen in half with a three foot fence and reduced Oreo's running area in half but he didn't seem to mind at all.

  Oreo had a diet of rabbit pellets and hay and plenty of treats. One of Oreo’s favorite parts of the day was when I made my sandwich to take to work each day. As soon as I went to the kitchen to make the sandwich, the beagles and Oreo would start running over to me. I would give Oreo some bread and lettuce, the beagles some bologna, and everyone would get some cheese. Kathy would always have a packet of cranberries to give Oreo as treats. I like grapes and so did Oreo. When I had grapes to pack for lunch I’d make sure to give Oreo a grape as a treat. He liked them so much that I’d give him a grape or two at night and if I used all the grapes for Friday’s lunch on my way back home from work I would stop at the store to get some more so I would be able to give Oreo his treat.

  At Matt’s high school graduation party one of the parents saw Oreo and told me how he had a pet rabbit who lived in a hutch outside that just loved twigs from apple trees. I started mentioning how Oreo got grapes, cheese, lettuce, etc.… when the parent saw our apple tree outside. We went outside and picked out the perfect twig from the apple tree, cut it to the perfect size, and brought it in to give to Oreo. Oreo took a look at the twig, sniffed it once, and treated the twig with the disdain a food critic might display towards a Whopper.

  We knew Oreo was a pretty old bunny but he was as active as ever (except for not sneaking upstairs through the back steps). I picked him up on most days to give him a few pets and could tell he was getting a little bony and losing his body mass. Earlier this year I found Oreo laying on his side more than a few times having what looked like convulsions which he would recover from once I gave him some pets.

  Last Monday, Oreo didn’t come out of his cage for sandwich time and had that raggedy look that I’ve seen all too often when an animal is near death. I was hoping I was wrong but I wasn’t. When I came home from work Oreo was laying on his side in his cage. I didn’t know if he would be alive the next morning but he was still laying on his side. He didn’t come out for sandwich time but when I gathered my sandwich and grapes and fruit for lunch there was Oreo hanging out by the refrigerator. I gave him a grape but he didn’t eat it. When I came home Oreo was hanging out by a window with his head on a little shelf and not moving very much and not eating. On Wednesday Oreo didn’t come out of his cage but Kathy took him into the backyard for some fresh air and it seemed to perk him up a bit.

Oreo stayed in his cage on Thursday morning and passed away that day in Kathy’s lap. We buried him in the backyard. His eyes were still open as we put the dirt over him. I was really close to Oreo. He was with me through some big moments like leaving every job I've had in Iowa, the deaths of Queenie and Tuffy, and the arrival of Daisy and Baxter. I cleaned out his cage this past weekend and it still sits under a shelf in the kitchen. I see it every time I go in that room and think of my friend. We took down the divider fence that separated Oreo’s part of the kitchen and I think about him when I involuntary get ready to hurdle the fence when I realize it is no longer there. Oreo was a great bunny and an even better friend. I miss him now and will miss him for a long time to come.