Mickey's story (what I know of it) started last summer when I adopted him from a Rabbit Habit foster home as a companion for Lilith when her sibling and lifelong companion, Eve, passed over the Rainbow Bridge without her. It seemed like a good match when the two were getting to know each other at the foster home, and the trip home - snuggled together in the pet carrier - was uneventful.
But Lilith turned out to be very territorial, and Mickey was far too gentlemanly to cope with her aggressive personality. Theirs was NOT a match made in heaven.
On the positive side, Lilith was definitely not bored. She was extremely interested in every move Mickey made and obsessed with monitoring his activities, especially when he ventured outside his fenced-in private sanctuary. Her daily challenge was to invade Mickey's space whenever the gates were open and stay inside as long as possible. She was convinced everything inside Mickey's private "apartment" was more interesting than everything outside, where she had free range all day. Mickey never became the loving companion for Lilith that I'd hoped for, but his presence definitely gave Lilith a sense of purpose.
Mickey didn't get such a great deal, though. He was willing to come up to the fence (when he was convinced the gate was closed) and let Lilith groom his fur through the bars. But when she "visited" him in his digs, he usually retired to the high ground and stayed there until Lilith departed and the gates were firmly secured once more.
Over the year they lived together, Mickey ventured outside his apartment less and less, always cautiously checking for any signs of Lilith and making sure he had an unobstructed path back to his sanctuary if she suddenly materialized. On the rare occasion when his guard was down and Lilith craftily cut off his escape route, Mickey panicked and I usually had to intervene to "escort" him home.
It wasn't until last month, when Lilith succumbed to a sudden illness and never returned from her visit to the Veterinary hospital that I realized how inhibited Mickey's life had been under Lilith's tyrannical paw. It took a week for Mickey to feel secure enough to come out of his sanctuary and freely explore the house. After that, he began to loosen up and "stay out all night." He's begun to run, binkey and lounge around in parts of the house that had been Lilith's private domain.
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