The Velcro Hippo Turns Seven!

I’m not sure where this year has gone already. It seems like just yesterday we were making Gotcha Day portraits in December. Now here we are in late June, celebrating my sweet and spicy Blue Boy’s SEVENTH birthday!

I’m not gonna lie, this birthday has me a little emotional. I lost my first soul dog, Bella JuneBug, to osteosarcoma at seven years old. I lost my second soul dog, Mani, to lymphoma at 4.5. Japhy will soon be the oldest dog I’ve had as an adult, and I’m both overjoyed and cautiously optimistic about the future. Because I lost my previous two dogs so young, getting past these milestones has been a little nerve-racking. I’m so incredibly grateful my boy has made it this far. Certainly, we’ve had some close calls (including a recent one that I’ll write about in another post soon).

While sitting in a waiting room at our vet clinic recently, I saw a poster on the wall that listed a dog’s physiological age based on their actual age and weight. Turns out, Japhy and I are both 50 this month!

Here’s to growing old together, my boy! I’ll take as many years with you as I can get. 💙