Oreo
1994 - 2001
Oreo came to us by a very special means. We used to live next door to this huge family with five kids, a mother, and her drug-dealing boyfriend. Well, one day, she left this boyfriend and got a new dealer-- er, boyfriend. Needless to say, this was not a Norman Rockwell portrait of a family. This new boyfriend wanted to make himself loved by the kids, so he got them each a pet, which came to 3 cats and two Dobermans. Then, one winter night, they fled when they got wind social services was after their kids. They abandoned their pets. When their power was cut off, their pipes froze, and when it got warmer, it flooded their town house. A Himalayan cat by the unlikely name of Angus broke through the third story window, and escaped. We tried to rescue him, but he was too crazy. The dogs also ran off.
That winter, we knew something was living in our shed. We thought it might be one of those cats, so we left food for it. Then one VERY cold winter evening, as my wife was returning home from work, a pathetic, skinny, shivering ball of grease and fur ran to the doorway, and huddled at her feet. We let him in, and the other cats IMMEDIATELY liked him, cleaned him up, and slept with him to keep him warm. We knew this cat's name was "Tom Tom," but we hated that name, and called him "Oreo" because he was black with a huge white stripe down the middle. The skinny puss ate and ate and ate like he'd never eat again. He swelled up like he'd swallowed a basketball, and the vet had to treat him for worms. Later, he just got... "stout."
People who knew Oreo never believed he was ever thin. Here's proof! [although slightly blurred] Pookie cleaned him up a lot until he could clean himself.
Oreo didn't like being photographed very much. Here he is, in an undignified moment of bathing, where he is flicking off the camera.
Oreo, like Mikey, did not have good luck. Things fell on him, and he was never very graceful due to a badly-healed hip injury (he got while jumping from the third floor, we imagine), and one eye was cut very deeply, so it was misshapen like someone dragged a toothpick through Jell-O. But he did all right. He was always submissive, and never really fought with any other cats.
When we got Thisby, Thisby badly needed a friend. Oreo was the only cat that didn't hate her outright, and so for the rest of Oreo's life, Thisby imitated him, followed him, and slept with him. Oreo was our "gateway" to Thibsy. Sadly, in late 2001, Oreo developed a horrific feline bowel irritation that eventually got him put to sleep. He was in so much pain for months, and the vets couldn't cure him. It was a horrible way for him to go, and he is missed very much.