On December 26th, 2023, the amazing Mr.Kitsune, my “forever puppy”, turned 15 years old!
I’ve rewritten this post three times now because I keep not liking how it turns out. Birthdays should be happy celebrations of life, but marking Kitsune’s 15th has been bittersweet for me. I feel like the “every year is equal to 7 dog years” thing isn’t exactly accurate, but going by that Kitsune would be equivalent to a 105-year-old human! That’s crazy! I still remember the day we brought him home, as a tiny little 9-week-old puppy, like it was yesterday.
Post Contents:
A Bittersweet Birthday
As I mentioned in our Pet Blogger’s Journey 2024 post last week, Kit was sick around the holidays (including his birthday) this year. Starting around the beginning of November, all at once we started having to deal with a couple of health concerns with Kitsune. It was super frustrating because we had to wait for specialist appointments and test results to get a better idea of what we were/are dealing with.
That meant we were going through a bit of trial and error on how to treat Kit and keep him comfortable until we could figure out what the best course of action would be. There were a lot of unknowns for a couple of weeks. Kit wasn’t feeling 100%, and when things we were trying to do to help him weren’t working it was stressful.
I’m intentionally being vague. I’m planning on writing separate posts about each of the health issues we had to deal with. It would just be too much to write about all of them here, and I don’t want Kit’s birthday post to just be about him being sick! The good news?
Kitsune is Feeling Much Better!
As of the time of writing this post, Kit has gone an entire week without throwing up a single time! That may not sound like a big deal, but believe me it is! We’re pretty sure we finally have a correct diagnosis for one of the main issues he’s been dealing with and have (thankfully!) found a treatment that seems to be helping him feel better. Especially within the last week, my sweet senior boy has been getting a lot of his energy back. He’s even felt well enough to run zoomies around the house and has gotten back to one of his favorite pastimes – trying to body slam his “little brother”, Fenrir.
A Happy Birthday
Despite being a bit under the weather, I do think Kitsune enjoyed Christmas and his birthday. It’s so adorable watching him open presents! He’s a pro at it. We couldn’t really give him any special foods or treats this year since he’s had an upset stomach, but he got a few toys and an elevated feeder for his food and water bowls. This happens every year, but I think Kit has more fun opening his presents and playing with the paper than he does with the actual presents themselves!
Birthday Wishes
I know I can’t deny that he’s a senior now, but I hope that we still have lots of birthdays left to celebrate with Kitsune! I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen. But even more so, I hope that he continues to enjoy life to the fullest. That his days are cozy and warm, full of snuggles, tasty treats, and fun. That he always knows how loved he is and feels like he’s part of a pack.
Adventures Ahead!
Embarking on life with a senior dog is very much a new adventure for me. I admit that I haven’t found it to be easy so far. But I just adore Kitsune, and feel honored to be one of the people that gets to walk his life path with him. Although our 2024 started off stressful, I’m so thankful that things already seem to be looking up. I’m looking forward to seeing what adventures the next year has in store for us!
So Here’s to Kitsune!
Happy 15th birthday, buddy. You’ve somehow only gotten more adorable over the years, and are for sure the silliest, most opinionated, active 15 year old dog I’ve ever met. I give you full permission to drive your ‘brother’ and us humans as crazy as you want going forward. You know, senior dog privileges! Old dogs basically can’t get in trouble for anything anymore. So cause as much trouble as you want, steal all the blankets, bark your little head off at dinner time, and have all the fun!
Comment below! When is your dog’s (or other pet’s) birthday and how old will they be? Do you do anything special to celebrate your pets’ birthdays?
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