Birthday posts are supposed to be happy, and actually posted close to the birthday pup’s birthday! I don’t think this post will really be either.
Well, it’s already late that’s for sure. On August 1st of this year, yes over two months ago now, we celebrated my amazing Mr.Fenrir’s 9th birthday! My little one, my puppy, is somehow 9.
I would have posted about Fen’s birthday sooner but I’m going to be honest, since losing Kit working on this site is hard for me. Paw Print is so strongly tied to Kitsune. I started it because of him. It holds so many photos, and memories, and stories of him. I miss him. My office walls are covered in photos of him. His ashes and memorial area are about 10 feet away from the desk I work at every day. I look at photos and watch videos of him often, and still share them regularly on our Instagram account. Somehow, for the most part, I’m able to do all that and keep “it” together. There’s just something about working on this site that is especially hard. I don’t know if it’ll get any easier anytime soon, so I’ll continue to do what I can when it comes to posting here.
Happy (Very Belated) Birthday, Fenrir!
Try as I might, I just wasn’t able to feel happy about celebrating Fen’s birthday this year. As I’ve so recently learned, no matter how hard you try you just can’t make your dog live forever. All the healthy food, exercise, supplements, maybe buy you time at best. Time. She is a cruel mistress. And unfortunately, she takes her toll on our beloved furry friends even faster than she does us.
But these are the types of things we strive to hide from our animal companions. They live their lives blissfully unafraid of death. It’s ok, I worry about them dying enough for all of us. Like a young child, birthdays for dogs get to be just extra fun days full of special treats and new toys. And that’s exactly what Fen’s birthday was for him!
I swallowed my sadness and gave Fen a day full of presents, treats, and time together. We had a cookout in the backyard then took Fen for an afternoon hike. He got a few new toys that he absolutely did not need – our dog toy bin is overflowing!
A General Fenrir Update
I was going to lie in this section. I was going to tell you all that Fen is doing well and then move on.
The fact of the matter is, and I think this made his birthday even harder for me this year, we have had to deal with some (thankfully seemingly somewhat minor) health issues with Fen lately. I don’t know how much I want to get into it now. But I can’t write about him having health issues and leave you all hanging, so I’ll share a bit.
Basically Fen’s had a cascade of issues that all stem from him having pretty chronic acid reflux. His acid reflux is very much triggered by stress, and after Kit died we all experienced plenty of that. Fen developed a cough that, after testing, we discovered was caused by some mild bronchitis and throat irritation caused by his acid reflux.
The big problem being that Fen does not do well on antacids. We’ve tried various antacids with him and he’s experienced pretty bad side effects with all of them, strangely enough. So we’ve been working to tailor his diet a bit more and have been trying a few new supplements as well. Frustratingly, while experimenting with different treatment options Fen recently had a flare up of pancreatitis. Luckily it was pretty minor, however it did take him awhile to feel 100% himself again.
Knock on wood, after a rough couple of weeks Fen is feeling much better now and I think we’ve got things dialed in a lot better. Hopefully that trend will continue. The biggest key with him seems to revolve around keeping his stress levels as low as possible, something that is sometimes easier said than done but I’m doing my best.
I’ll try to put up a separate post sometime about all the trials and tribulations we’ve dealt with with Fen and his tummy troubles. He’s such a sensitive little guy!
The good thing about it taking me so long to write this post, I suppose, is that now, on the day I’m finally going to just force myself to post it, Fen is actually doing a lot better!
A General Human Update
I try to hide my own stress from Fen. He’s so in tune with me and I know how much it bothers him when I’m upset. I really, really miss Kit. I knew when I got dogs that losing them someday would be hard, but I don’t think I ever imagined that it would be this hard. I’ve lost pets in the past, this isn’t my first rodeo, but losing a dog really hits differently. At least for me. Since I’ve worked from home for so long, Kit was my pretty much constant companion for 15 years. It doesn’t feel right not having him here with me. Maybe it never will. Yet life goes on anyways.
I’ve been working a ton lately, which is another reason why I’ve found it more difficult to blog. A few months ago I started two new jobs at almost the exact same time, which was hectic to say the least. One of them was a new contract with the company I’ve been working with for years, and the other was a new company entirely. Training for two new jobs at once got a bit stressful, but a few months in and I feel like I’m getting the hang of juggling both.
My crazy self decided that was also the perfect time to start not one, but two new websites up as well. I’m not ready to share them quite yet but maybe I will eventually. Although they aren’t about dogs, so people here may not be interested. As much as I do want to keep this site alive, it’s been kind of nice to write about something other than dogs. Kit was my Paw Print Pet Blog muse for so long that writing about dogs without him by my feet feels weird.
Fen Is Getting Restless
This post feels so awkward. I guess I mostly just felt a bit guilty about Fen’s birthday passing and not sharing about it here. But this is a far cry from my typical, optimistic, birthday post. Ah well. Fen did enjoy his special day which is all that really matters! I think I’m mostly trying to force myself to forget that he’s 9 and technically a senior now. But thankfully, the stuff I mentioned above aside, he is generally doing really well. He’s still got lots of energy. He loves hiking and playing with his toys.
I would probably try to write more but Fen’s actually getting quite annoyed with me! He is telling me, in no uncertain terms, that it’s time to get off the computer and take him out for a walk.
I’ll try to post here more often again. I’ll do what I can. I doubt I’ll be going back to weekly (or more often) posts anytime soon but I’m thinking of aiming for once a month, or every other week maybe. If anyone wants Fen updates more often we are actually more active on some of our social media accounts, especially Facebook and Instagram. To anyone who used to follow both Kit and Fen’s Instagram accounts, you hopefully noticed that I recently decided to consolidate them into one. The one I link to here is the correct one!
Thanks for reading! It makes me happy to see that people are still visiting our site even with my lack of new content lately. A very happy (belated) birthday to little Fenrir! Here’s to many more!
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