Our precious "princess" Tasha was helped across the bridge early Monday
morning. Tasha went into heart failure and despite gallant efforts by
the crew at the emergency clinic, wasn't able to recover.

Tasha must have known the gate to the bridge was opening as she had
spent the last week making frequently visits to all her furless people,
and lavishing them with kisses. She spent several evenings sleeping on
the couch with me, watching silly late night TV shows, and frequently
making sure I had plenty of kisses.

Tasha was a beautiful sable girl found hopping around on the sidewalk
by someone car when they tried to get out. It took a 10pm, 1.5 hr trip
to get her and introduce her to our home. A couple of weeks later we
lost Half Pint to kidney failure. We always thought Half Pint had
picked Tasha to help us get over her passing.


She immediately earned the title Energizer ferret by playing non stop
for hours on end, with short naps in between. She also become known as
"princess" Tasha when she seemed to always present that young attitude
of "well I deserve my treats because I'm cute". She would also scream
her "princess" status at her new found sisters, who seemed to love to
chase her and make her scream.

Tasha was always a happy go lucky ferret and made everyone laugh.
Should someone be unhappy, Tasha would present herself, put on the cute
face, and bestow tons of kisses. Hard to remain unhappy with that kind
of cuteness.

Tasha's favorite toy was a plastic coffee can and lid. Should you dare
spill coffee grounds on the floor, Tasha would race over and roll on
them as tho they were the best perfume in the world. Coffee cans were
fun to roll in, and coffee lids made great hockey pucks.

Tasha's taste in treats changed thru her 5 years with us. First it was
Fruit Loops and chicken. Ferretone was always a must. Baby food became
her favorite over the last 6 months. She began to lose a lot of weight
one week and didn't appear to be eating much. A trip to the vet
revealed no obvious problems, and the vet techs explained that hand
feeding kibble or spoon feeding baby food seem to work well. Hmmm, can
we say spoiled? So thus began the baby food monster. Each and every
evening a special small plate had to have a spoolful of baby food. And
that plate was licked clean, with a pitiful look that always said "that
isn't enough for a princess".

Apparently the bridge greeters were arriving Sunday while I was
watching Tash and trying to decide whether we needed to make a trip to
the emergency vet. An empty water bottle suddenly leaped off the table
near me with no apparent reason. Someone very playful was arriving to
escort Tasha in her last hours.

I think Tasha may have made a visit herself this evening as I was
making dinner. A couple of skillet lids that I had placed on the
counter suddenly shifted and make a large metallic "twang". Made me
smile and wonder what antics were happening across the bridge.

Tasha will have been met by quite a large crew, some she didn't know,
and other she did, including Gabriel, Half Pint, Buddy, and Elliot. I'm
sure they'll have a lot to chat about, and Half Pint and Tasha will be
sure to share some chicken.

We are sad that we lost Tasha so suddenly, but are glad that she was
able to leave still looking like a princess.

Tasha, we love you and miss you,

Chris and the fur sisters, Maya, Emma, and Tommie

[Posted in FML 6836]