Gotcha Day | Year One

I copied the text below from my daughter's IG post on Thursday, July 7.  Originally I was going to repost it on my IG but it's easier for me to look back on it on my blog.  If the video's don't load, please click on her IG post above.

Kuma’s gotcha day was yesterday 🥳 I can’t explain how grateful I am to have her in my life. One year of love and fun and laughs.

If you make it to the last few slides, you’ll see Kuma as she was when I first picked her up. She was surrendered as a “stray” in Houston, but had obviously had a couple litters of puppies, and lots of broken teeth possibly from being kept chained up. She had severe itchiness and hair loss from skin issues, and strange coarse hair possibly from a lifetime of poor nutrition. After a couple months, her skin healed, she was no longer itchy, and a nice new coat grew in. A few months later, her vet made the decision to remove her two broken lower canines, and what was remaining of the six incisors between them. Most had already been broken off below the gum line. She recovered quickly and was back to chewing on things in no time. Thinking about how hard her life must have been makes me want to give her delicious food, and all the pets and ball chasing/squirrel observing time she can handle every day. It’s the least I can do considering all the joy she brings into this world.

Special thanks to Kuma’s foster mom @gracieandcolour and dad @yiabee1028 for giving Kuma so much love, @stellarescuesdogs and @rescueunleashed for driving(!!) her from TX to WA and helping her through her medical issues, @feliciafragozo for putting in a recommendation for me to the rescue org, and my mom @craftee1 for being just as obsessed with Kuma as I am (if not more).

1: Kuma sitting in her bed, paws up on the couch
2: Serving Kuma her gotcha day meal (steak and broccoli)
3: Feeding Kuma some @yoshitotreats I like to keep some in my car for travel snacking because she likes the cronch
4: Kuma going after a bouncing tennis ball
5: My obachan walking Kuma along the shore of Lake Washington
6: Kuma showing her extreme cheerio catching abilities
7: My mom and Kuma after a long soccer session
8: Footage after Kuma’s first bath the day after I picked her up
9: Kuma on one of the first walks we went on
10: The first pic I took of Kuma the day I picked her up