Bella The Great

Bella the Great is sitting on my lap as I type this.

Her emergence from her cage has been extraordinary.  We have had her since 2007, a mini-lop purchased for a 4-H project that never really took off, and in all of that time she never wanted to get out of her cage.  We began keeping the cage door open because it was inconvenient in the morning - and she did nothing.  In fact, she fought whenever someone would have to remove her from the cage for its cleaning.  She never wanted to be held and only pet on her terms, when she came up to the cage door.

Until about 3 weeks ago, when she just spontaneously jumped out of the cage and started running around.

Now she has become almost a tyrant in her quest for freedom.  Every morning, as soon as she sees the light go on, she starts gnawing at the cage door (it is closed now, of course), demanding to be let out.  When it opens she immediately hops out and begins hopping about.  She seems to have a circuit:  first the family room in which she is in, then out to the living room to hop around the perimeter before she plops down on the tile or carpet by the entry way.

When I come to sit down in my chair she will hop over and look up; sometimes she tries to climb my leg for attention, sometimes she just hops up in the chair and makes that sort of sound only a rabbit can make.  She sometimes just sits there demanding to be pet; at other times she makes a quick circuit over my lap to the other side and then hops back down and carries along her way.  Just now, she hopped up, sat to my side as I pet her, gave me a couple of bunny kisses (Rabbit for "I Love You") and then hopped back down on her business.

This is an unlooked for gift, something that I had expected after years of having her and trying to convince her that we did not really seek to harm her but wanted to love her.  Suddenly, it seems, those years of trying have finally paid off, and we are beneficiary of the love of a happy rabbit.