Last Rabbit Down

On Friday night, I picked up Oops! to cuddle with.  When I got to my chair and sat down, I noticed that he wasn't trying to hide by shove his head between my elbow and my side.  He sat, immobile, not even manouvering his ears back and forth as I rubbed each side of his face.  His coat was so soft.  I felt his ribs beneath it.  He lay limp in my lap--relaxed sooner than usual.   I marveled at the miracle of this small being.  Someone came into the room and he stiffened up, looking about, but then returned to a creamy swirl in my lap.  When I put him back into his cage for the night, I noticed that he had begun to breath in great gasps.  I put my hand in to touch his face, but he retreated back into the far corner.

The next morning it was the same.  I tried to pick him up, but he resisted--it hurt for me to touch him.

Benjamin Oops! was the second rabbit to join our family after we arrived here in Palm Beach. His name came from the dribble of carmel-coloured spots fallen onto his back--in sharp contrast to the rest of his bright white body.  I had first gotten Peter, but he needed a companion while I was away at the doctor's, at school or in Maryland visiting Meg and her family.

After Oops! came two rescues:  Murphy and Roo.  At the height of our rabbit collection, there were four.  Roo died first, an infection in her brain left her without the ability to hold her head straight or to move forward.  Peter, my first love, had teeth that grew sideways and I made the mistake of having the vet remove them--Peter came home in a state of shock--as just a shell.  He was listless and would not eat or drink--two days later I repented of my mistake and had the vet put him to sleep.  Then went Murphy--he just got old and could not keep himself clean or dry--and so I paid for the vet to put him down, too.

Last of all was Oops!  The smallest of the four and the most timid.  I think that if he had been my only rabbit, he would have been happiest and more outgoing.  Alone, he finally came into his own and enjoyed the space and solitude that being single offered.  Surprisingly, he did enjoy being petted, wrapped loosely in a towel and sitting safely on my lap.  When I was gone, Oops! took Nathan up on his offer to hold him--something Nathan quite enjoyed.

Oops! had a double hutch, tucked safely away high on a table in the corner of the living room.  His food and bedding were kept beneath the table--everything easy for me to get to as I tended to him each evening.  He, unlike Peter, had a "delicate constitution."  Anything other than his timothy hay, timothy pellets, carrots and an occasional wild rose from our garden upset his stomach.  Peter had been able to eat ANYTHING:  apple, hybiscus, store-bought treats, Boston or romaine lettuce, craisens and raisens, rice cakes, and an occational salt-free saltine cracker.

Oops! is the only rabbit that my grandson Caleb will ever remember.  He loved putting his finger through the small spaces between the hutch wires and having Oops! gently "kiss" his finger--with the rabbit, I am sure, hoping, that the pink end of Caleb's finger was actually a bit of carrot being pushed into his space.

I don't know if Caleb will ever actually be able to pull images of Oops! from his memory--Caleb just celebrated his 2nd birthday.  Oops! will be there, though, as a small bit of the history that will shape the way that Caleb thinks about and sees the world.

I am sorry that Megan won't have been able to see Oops! one last time.  She is coming to visit Lauren at the end of the month.  I am glad that she is coming.  Visiting my brothers and sisters while I still had small children at home never occurred to me.  My mom used to tell the five of us that we needed to be better, smarter, more successful than she was--so that our family could continue to move forward.  I want that same thing for Meg, La and Nathan, too.  I think that Megan is going forward in a grand fashion--bit by marvelous bit--in taking time to spend with Lauren.  Meg wants to know all of us better.  I think that knowing her family members will allow her to better know herself.

Back to Oops!  In December, I took the pictures here.  I am glad that I did.  Meg's girl Kate wanted some bunny pictures--and so I took some of Oops! and emailed them for Meg to print off.

They will serve as a good reminder of our second rabbit in:  our last rabbit down.