Today we lost our little Tigger girl to lymphoma.  She fought the good
fight but finally had lost the will to live.  She was going on 7 years
old.  She was diagnosed around January/February timeframe.  With the help
of prednisone she was able to have a fairly decent quality of life for
most of this time, but I had noticed a drop-off in her activity level
over the last 2 weeks.  The last 2 days she took a nose dive, and
stopped eating entirely.  Today she was unable to maintain a normal body
temperature, and we decided it was time to let her go.  It was a tough
decision, but I did not want to make her linger in misery.  I held her
as she had her injection today that ended her suffering.  She was too
weak to even try to resist in any way.  She had given up hope.
 
In spite of the name, she was a tiny little girl, a black sable that was
barely over a pound in weight when fully grown.  We adopted her as a
baby, and she was our very first ferret.  She was so cute and tiny and
did not walk, instead she bounced everywhere she went, thus earning her
the name Tigger.  Soon after we got her, we decided she needed a
playmate, and got our second ferret, Pooh.  The night we brought Pooh
home, she started dancing around and dooking as soon as she laid eyes on
him, which intimidated him a little at the time, but she was very happy
to finally have a playmate.  A couple of years ago, we adopted a "rescue"
ferret.  Once again, I was concerned about how a newcomer would be
accepted, but Tigger was just as delighted to have a sister join the
ranks as she was when Pooh came home that day.  I think she liked having
a playmate closer to her own size.  Her sister, Sprite, has already
passed over the Rainbow Bridge.
 
Tigger was the master thief of the house, her first theft, of course,
being our hearts.  She could climb straight up our brick fireplace to get
to the mantel to push things off.  She also would get into the stereo
system and figured out how to turn on the turntable, which she would then
ride like a carousel.  One of her nicknames was Miss Mischief, because
she seemed to always be up to something.  She was a Ferretone junkie of
the highest order, and also loved Cheweasels and Foamy Fries.  Everyone
that saw her thought she had the cutest little face, including our
vetrenarian.  She was much loved and will be missed by my husband and I
as well as Pooh.  We will have to give him extra love and attention this
evening.
 
So Sandee, please welcome my Tigger at the Rainbow Bridge, and tell her
we love her and miss her already.  She can join her sister, Sprite,
again.
 
Holly
and Pooh
[Posted in FML issue 4548]