Woohoo! Happy 9th birthday to Humphrey! Another year seems to have flown by in a flash. This handsome spotty sidekick continues to bring much joy with an occasional side order of chaos. Haha! It’s hard to believe that Humphrey is now older than Oli was when he joined our family as a tiny little puppy so many years ago. My heart aches at the thought, but we live and love every day together. So come on in and join the pawty, furfriends! Here’s a recap of our furfamily celebration for Humphrey’s 9th birthday.
Humphrey's 9th Birthday
Humphrey’s birthday was a cold and rainy winter Monday this year, but that didn’t dampen our celebratory spirits. We lucked into a sunny gap for our morning walk and then nested up at home for some furfamily fun as the stormy weather rolled in outside. We didn’t have any furfriends with us on the big day itself, but we saved some cake for playdate visits the next day. Dogdad was away at the office, so Humphrey and I partied it up solo all afternoon with a mini birthday photoshoot, decorating his birthday cake, a little taste testing, and playing together with his favourite toys. A great day indeed, even if it was a quiet one with just us together.
Homemade Turkey and Apple Birthday Cake
Humphrey’s special birthday cake was a layered turkey and apple meatloaf, topped with a cube of pan seared turkey – one of his new favourite foods. And dark turkey meat is a moderate purine food with really high heart-healthy turine, too! Humphrey enjoyed a celebratory slice, and the rest was portioned up for the fridge. He feasted on leftover snacks and shared some with his furfriends.
I was lured in by the polka dot birthday candle when filling my online grocery cart, and added a giant inflatable number nine balloon. I’m not usually a fan of such things as they’re usually single use and feel kind of wasteful, but I couldn’t resist. It’s been a bit of a tough year with Humphrey receiving a surprise diagnosis of heart issues after a new murmur was picked up during routine vet care. Fortunately, Humphrey is responding well to treatment. Keep on sending healing throughts to his heart, fufriends! And please, check what’s in your dog’s foods and consider switching if you’re feeding a brand or a food with ingredients potentially linked to DCM. You can sniff around Humphrey’s bowl and our food journey in our post on dog diets and mixed feeding.
Birthday Treats and Toys
We didn’t make any extra treats for Humphrey’s birthday this year, but rest assured that he still gets plenty of tasty treats – both bought and homemade. Dogdad has been particularly indulgent in his treat and toy shopping recently, much to Humphrey’s delight.
On the homemade front, we were already well stocked with homemade jerky, with beef jerky dog treats and dehydrated salmon dog treats, in the freezer as well experimental marinated bbq chicken jerky dog treats (smashing success, recipe coming soon) and dehydrated beef heart dog treats (DIY details coming soon). The latter is not something I would usually make for purine moderated dogs like our Dalmatians, but it’s full of heart-healthy nutrients if you’re into the glandular therapy concept of eating what ails you. Unlike most organs, the heart is actually considered muscle meat and grass-fed beef heart sits in the higher end of the moderate range for purines. And, of course, we also have some sort of gummy dog treat in the fridge for Humphrey and his visiting furfriends. Stock would usually be my go-to, but I’ve been using a blend of bone broth and water for making gummies lately instead. Delish!
For toys, as some of you might have seen in our Instagram stories, I’d recently gone on a massive toy shopping spree when one of our favourite shops had a great sale, so we have a stash of new squeaky stuffed dog toys slowly trickling out for playtime fun.
Birthday Love and Wishes
Thanks for all of the love you’ve shared with us since we started Dalmatian DIY, and for being part of Humphrey’s blog dog world. His humans have been slow in getting this post up on the blog, but a huge thank you for the birthday wishes on his social posts. Stay tuned for his birthday cake recipe and other doggione great things coming soon! Love and licks from our furfamily to yours!
Join the pawty at Humphrey’s 9th birthday celebration posts:
- Humphrey’s 9th Birthday Celebrations
- Turkey and Apple Meatloaf Dog Birthday Cake (Coming Soon)
- Say hello to Humphrey on his Instagram or Facebook birthday posts.
Looking for more celebration fun? Explore our milestone posts to grow up with the dogs and our blog over the years. You can also find all of our birthday-related content under the dog birthday party post category or explore the related topics below. Woofs!
