Error: dial unix /var/run/nextdns.sock: connect: no such file or directory

I am running into this almost daily now. This is for a nextdns install on pfSense. The install went fine and nextdns seems to be running ok,  but when I try:

nextdns cache-stats

I get this error msg:

Error: dial unix /var/run/nextdns.sock: connect: no such file or directory

How can nextdns be "running" while this file does not exist?

Now, if I do:

nextdns stop; nextdns start; nextdns cache-stats

then I get the following output

{
    "hit": 0,
    "miss": 0
}

Which means the missing file was (re)created and things are back to "normal." However, I will see the same issue again at some point today or tomorrow.

Any recommendations for a fix?

I am on nextdns version:  1.37.11