Some of you have met my beloved companion, Asha, and all of you have seen her smiling out from my posts, so I felt it was appropriate to share with the UK Butterflies community the very sad news that at just 7 years old (8 in September) she is seriously ill from chronic renal failure and will not recover. Organ failure often shows no symptoms until it is too late and her kidneys are well past the stage where dialysis or medication can help them. Her decline has been precipitous and I only learned yesterday she was in a critical condition. I took her to the local vet at 10.30 in the morning because she was clearly ill. The vet took blood samples and ordered me to take her immediately to the animal hospital in Bern, where they did further tests and announced the news. She spent last night in hospital and I travelled to Bern today to visit her. She is spending tonight in Bern and will return home tomorrow. Her butterfly-chasing days are over but she is expected to live some more weeks or possibly even months in relative comfort, until either she or I decide we must part company.
I thought hard before making this post, but given that she is (and will remain) my avatar on this site I knew I would have to say something some time. Thank you in advance for your thoughts and/or prayers.
Guy
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2009/ashatierspital091.jpg)
Asha today outside the animal hospital