pug in a tub

getting colder

This weekend we bathed our pug. If you've ever bathed a pug you'll know that they don't dry quickly. We usually towel her off as much as possible and then let her run around or roll around on a towel until she's dry. This time, after the running and rolling, she was still a bit damp and she curled up on my lap and shivered, poor puppy! So I wrapped her up in a towel and cuddled for a while, and then I thought, it's fall... maybe it's time to get out her sweater! So she's been rocking the sweater ever since and we are constantly amused by the cuteness. She kind of waddles around when she wears it and when she curls up on the couch she looks like a caterpillar peeking out of a cocoon.

sick puggy

Poor Meiby... this past weekend we noticed she was urinating very often and there were spots of blood on the puppy pad so we took her to the vet. Turns out she has a terrible bladder infection and a mild ear infection to go along with it. It's not getting her down though. You wouldn't even know she was sick if she wasn't peeing every 5 minutes. So we are giving her some ear drops twice a day and antibiotic pills with each meal. She's a pro though. So far we haven't even had to hide the pills in anything. We just give them to her right before she gets her food (when she's starving) and she gulps it right down! We are not sure what the culprit is but we suspect it might be our hard water. We'll be giving her filtered water from now on!

Not for the Squeamish

Anyone who wants to keep thinking of Meiby as a perfect, cute-all-the-time puppy, stop reading here! (or click here)




She'd be mad if she knew I posted about this (hehehe) but it might be helpful to other pup owners out there...
Last Thursday when I got home from work I noticed Meiby scooting her butt across the floor so I checked it out and she had a red swollen bump under her tail. I had heard about some pugs needing to have their anal glands expressed so I figured it was Meiby's turn. I pointed it out to Nick when he got home and we looked up some info and tutorials on how to deal with this. We put her in the tub and attempted to squeeze. We must not have been doing it right because nothing came out except a little red (uh ohh) so we called the vet thinking she might have an infection. In the meantime, I held a warm washcloth on her rear to soothe the swelling. She seemed greatful for this!

Nick took her to the vet the next morning and they "expressed" her properly and showed Nick how to do it (darn, I missed it!) We had been a little worried that we weren't feeding her the right stuff or something. They explained that we weren't doing anything wrong, some dogs just need this done occassionally. She seemed much more comfortable when she came home, though maybe a bit violated. We figured we could just do this at home when needed, and sure we can, but it's only $16 to have it done at the vet and we know they'll do it properly and thoroughly so we'll probably just stick to that unless it's needed very often. Supposedly feeding dogs pumpkin will help them to "express naturally" so I'm going to whip up some of these pumpkin treats for Meiby.

FURmination!

FURmination!
Originally uploaded by ameetek16

If you have a pug, you know that they shed quite a bit. I heard lots of recommendations for the FURminator to minimize shedding so we picked one up. I try to use it on Meiby at least once a week if not more. You can see the pile of fur that I pulled off of her this weekend. There could have been more too but she'll only sit still for so long. This is also after regular "FURmination"... there's a lot more hair the first time. Anyway, it does help a bit. She still sheds everywhere but as long as I vacuum once a week it's not too bad. I do recommend the FURminator but I haven't really tried anything else so I can't say if there's a better alternative. Either way, regular pug brushing is a good idea to reduce the fur bunnies from collecting around the house!

Meiby's first bath