Sunny is eight

Sunny's birthday portrait. Jake is in the background.

Today is Sunny’s eighth birthday. Like last year, she refused to sit still for photos. The photos of her up top and below are the best I could get. She flat-out refused to take a selfie with me, though this isn’t the first time she was dubious about the idea. Jake obliged (but didn’t convince Sunny), and Bella crawled in my lap as I sat on the floor trying to coerce Sunny, so I included their photos at the very bottom of this post.

This year had a rough patch for Sunny, something I didn’t talk about on this blog.

Sunny became sick on October 31, seemed to get a bit better, but by the wee small hours of November 2, we decided to take her to the emergency vet. A series of tests followed over the next 36 hours, before it was determined her intestine was blocked by what turned out to be a triangle-shaped piece of bark.

The bark was successfully removed, and we brought Sunny home on the fourth. We dragged the mattress from the guest bed and put it on the lounge floor so we could sleep on it and Sunny would be near us, as she’s used to, without jumping onto a bed, which she wasn’t allowed to do.

She healed well and quickly and was back to her old self in no time, as if nothing had ever happened. She’s been as sunny as ever since then.

This was the worst health scare we’ve had with one of our fur babies in many years, and the first emergency surgery in the better part of 20 years. We were, it’s safe to say, more than a little anxious. Something I wrote for Sunny’s birthday post last year explains part of why that was:

In the past, I’ve talked about the presence of our furbabies, and what I mean by that is that I can sense their presence: I can feel when they’re in the room with me, or somewhere else in the house, or not in the house. Even so, sometimes I’m not sure where they are and I need (yes, actually need) to go find them. Then, balance restored, I can continue on with my day.

That’s true for all the furbabies, but the puppies especially, and Sunny probably most of all. She’s near me almost every moment, whether I’m awake or asleep. Sometimes it’s just in the room with me, other times, closer. For example, when I’m at my desk, she often sleeps under it, and I have to be careful not to kick her.

Jake and Bella are more content to do whatever they want, and sleep wherever they want. Sometimes that’s in the same room that I’m in (and Sunny is, too), but very often it’s not. That’s one way in which Sunny is very different from Jake or Bella.

When Sunny came back home, that balance was restored in a very major way. Even so, I didn’t mention it on this blog, though I chronicled it on my personal Facebook. I attempted to write a post, and the main reason I abandoned it was that it was getting longer and longer but didn’t make especially compelling reading, or so it seemed to me.

I think the main reason I didn’t write a post about it is that by then I was ready for it to all be over, and to just move on. And, we all did. But this year, I feel like we got the present in that we still get to celebrate Sunny’s birthday. We know how lucky we are to be able to do that.

So, happy eighth birthday, Sunny! We’re so glad you came to live with us some five and half years ago. And we’ll always look after our little girl.

Related posts:
Sunny is seven – Last year’s birthday post
Sunny is six
Sunny is five
Sunny is four
Sunny is three – Her first birthday with us
Sunny has arrived – When Sunny came to live with us
All posts mentioning Sunny

Sunny by herself.

Bella on my lap, left, and at right Jake tries to show Sunny how to take a selfie with me.