What a journey it has been... close to 15 years my partner and I had
a flock of fuzzbutt's who seemed to rule the house. Last Saturday, we
said goodbye to our last little girl, Mel, who was 11.

Mel outlived all of her brothers and sisters... she was the smallest
of them all and clearly had a size complex. She ruled the ferrets, the
dogs and the cat, with an iron fist. It was common to find her in the
couch, between cushions, just waiting for the cat to come by... surely
you would hear a squeal from the cat as she'd run by you with Mel on
her back holding on for dear life. I give more credit's to my dogs, who
tried to rein her in to no avail. Both of our labs are north of 100lbs,
yet she had no problem walking right up to them and dragging their toy
away as they'd whimper. They'd bark at her, she'd nip them. They'd paw
at her, she'd nip them. When she really wanted to get them riled up,
she'd climb in to their water dish and just soak in it. They knew who
was boss and she ruled them as if they were her minions and yet, on
those really cold nights, I'd find her asleep curled up with them.

Although she was 11 and we knew her time was short, we didn't expect
her to pass when she did. We put her on the back pool deck while we
cleaned her cage... she tormented the cat, as normal and even went on a
momentary dig in one of the planters around the pool. She ran around,
did her war dances and finally came back inside to crawl in to her cage
and started her long nap which would give her the energy to cross the
rainbow bridge.

You never have a favorite kid, but if we did, it was her... we'll miss
having to dig through her hiding spots to find our keys. We'll miss
watching her climb up our stairs and then 15 minutes later, watch her
climb down them, typically with a shoe in tow. We'll miss the funny
noises and goofy dances she'd do when she was excited and more than
anything, we'll miss the flood of kisses we'd get from her when we'd
rub her back.

Some pictures I wanted to share....

This was taken after all her housemates had passed on (I think she was
2) and we got our first dog, a black lab, who until her passing, she
dominated at every opportunity - http://i39.tinypic.com/ih4a5j.jpg

This was taken when we first brought our new puppy home... if there was
a caption for this one, it would read, "Puppy... this isn't going to
end well for you!" - http://i43.tinypic.com/2e4eypu.jpg

This was taken a few hours before she curled up in her bed and went to
rest for her trip across The Rainbow Bridge -
http://i44.tinypic.com/30ix3r7.jpg

My special and sincere thanks to Bill for managing the FML... you
provided us with one of the best resources I ever came across for
ferret owners. To all the ferret mom's and dad's on the list who have 
a fuzzbutt who has crossed The Rainbow Bridge, let me apologize in
advance for Mel's behavior. :)

Warmest Regards,
Jeremy

[Posted in FML 6266]