Days before she first got back on her feet, however, Kate was mourning the sudden death of her dog Nanuq, who, according to the Jon & Kate Plus 8 alum, passed away on Dec. 19 during a car trip to North Carolina to spend Christmas with her kids.

“The dogs are excited to see the kids, and the kids are excited to see us and the dogs,” she said in a TikTok before hitting the road. “It’s really exciting. I haven’t seen my kids in a long time because we’ve been far, far away and they’ve been in college or working.”

In an Instagram post paying tribute to the pup she also called NuNu, Kate wrote, “One minute she was here and healthy. The next, she was gone. Her last gift to me was when she got into the truck to leave, she poked her head forward to where I was sitting in the passenger seat and licked my left cheek, twice.”