I know, it’s been the longest time since I posted an update here! The past few months have had their ups and downs, but the good news is everything is well with Sami and us ❤️✨

We had an eventful end of the year

Here’s what you missed since we last talked.

First, we had some fun travel adventures

At the start of last fall, we embarked on a road trip from Portugal all the way to Romania - with Sami in the backseat, of course. 🚗 It took us through Spain, France, Germany, Austria, and Hungary before we finally reached Bucharest. That’s two new countries to add to Sami’s travel list - so far he’s been to 14 countries around the world 🌎

Sami had the best time in our home town, Bucharest, where we spent 2 months. He’d been here once before, and we keep discovering just how dog-friendly the city is. 🐶 Sami has been allowed to join us everywhere we went - in restaurants, cafés, book shops, malls, even on uber rides in the city. What more could we ask for?

We had a health scare and Sami had to have surgery.

During this time, we had a major health scare that thankfully ended on a good note. But…

Sami had the tip of his tail amputated. What started as a tiny lump we were told “not to worry about” began bleeding while we were traveling. A cytology showed suspicious carcinoma cells, and because the lump was right on the tip of his tail where there's no extra skin, the only safe way to remove it was to amputate about three vertebrae.

The hardest part was the waiting and the uncertainty. Hearing that Sami might have "cancer" was terrifying. But we consulted with an amazing veterinary oncologist in Romania, we did a full heart exam in Portugal (Sami has some heart issues, so anesthesia was a concern), and the surgery went really well. It took him about a month to fully recover and his tail looked like a little hot dog sausage the whole time 😂 And he was his usual grumpy, opinionated self.

The best part? When the biopsy results came, turns out it wasn’t cancer! 🎉 We have never been so happy and grateful 🥹

I shared the full story, including what I wish I'd known sooner, in this video.

2026 started on the right foot.

We decided to start the year with an exciting new adventure. So we teamed up with another Westie (and his mom) and we went on vacation together! 🐶🐶 Blue the Westie has been an Instagram friend of ours for years, we even had his mom on our podcast (you can watch that episode here), so when they traveled to Europe all the way from Canada, we decided to spend a week together in the South of France.

We had a blast and our two Westies behaved as if they’d known each other forever. We shared an apartment, so they had a whole routine together, from breakfast and morning walks, to evenings snoozing on the couch next to each other. Adorable! 🥰 There is a whole video coming soon, so you can see for yourself.

If you read this far, thank you - and I hope you enjoyed our updates.

What would you like to hear about next? More travel stories? Health tips? Westie stories? Just hit reply and let me know!

Until next time,

Miruna & Sami 🐶 💕

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