Over the River and Through the Woods...

Thanks everyone for sending me such nice messages! I'm already feeling a lot better and hardly scratching at all! And you know what the best part of all is? Mom just had to give me a pill in a piece of turkey because I didn't eat one of them in my dinner bowl! Score!! As you all know, us puggies like our food.

I still have to wait two weeks for that vanilla ice cream though because I'm not due for that medicine until then. I'm trying to convince Mom to get my tastebuds prepared for vanilla ice cream with a trial run but so far no dice.

Luckily though, we are going to visit Grandma and Grandpa and Trey this weekend so my Mom can go on a float trip! I bet anything I can talk Grandpa in to sharing his nightly ice cream with me. Does he really think he can resist THIS face? I DON'T THINK SO!

So we're going to be gone for a little while but we'll be back soon, I promise! In the mean time, I'm going to take a nap.


(And Mom would like to apologize for the screwy fonts in this post but Blogger is not rational.)

Back from the Dermatologist!

Gina here, Vito asked me to take over this post because, well, there are some big words in this post! We are back from an expensive little visit to the dermatologist! But hopefully we will get his itching under control, he found some interesting things. The doctor found one flea on him, but he thought it seemed like a fresh one, maybe even picked up in the grass at their office before we came inside. He did not find mites, but is treating him for them regardless, since 50% of the time, mites do not show up in a scraping. He gave us Ivermectin to be given by syringe orally once every two weeks for 6 weeks. The nurse said we could put this in melted vanilla ice cream, so at least one good thing came from this visit for Vito anyway!

It's impossible to get him to look at me at the doctor's office.

He put Vito on a new (expensive) flea treatment called Vectra. He said fleas have become immune to Frontline and the like. We were only on Bio Spot as it was inexpensive and recommended to me by the Petsmart manager who uses it on his small indoor dogs.

Also, and this is probably the real cause of the itching, he found yeast AND staph in his little paws!! So he's been scratching with those and spreading it around (he found two spots of staph on his body). So we are on Fluconazole for the yeast and Cephalexin for the staph, and Prednisone for the itching. I'm supposed to call them with an update in 4 weeks.

I'm a little annoyed that my regular vet did not check for these things, but I don't really know how vets work - I guess they just don't go as indepth as a dermatologist?

So my wallet is a little lighter but of course it's worth it to figure out what's wrong with my boy.

Sad Bear

Well I'm still itching, and now it's all over instead of just my back end. We found out from someone in our Pug Meetup group that his pug had the same symptoms including the "sit and spin" and lots of scratching. His pug ended up having sarcoptic mites, which leads to mange! He told us about a dermatologist for pets, so Mom got me an appointment for tomorrow because someone cancelled! We'll let you know how it goes and hopefully I won't look like this for much longer...

Jack's Back

Well Jack came back AGAIN and guess what? He was a jerk - AGAIN! Uncle Michael just bought a new condo so he had to do some cleaning at his apartment and apparently he didn't want the jerk around either.

Okay, Mom just informed me that I can't call Jack a jerk anymore. How about crybaby, is that better? Because he is a crybaby too. Every time Uncle Michael leaves, Jack gets really upset and does this for a long time.

What a crybaby!!

Okay, Mom says I can't call him a crybaby either because SOMEONE told her that I do the same thing when she leaves me. I have no idea what she is talking about. Moving on.

Jack spent the night with us and Uncle Michael came to get him the next day. Jack was VERY HAPPY and I must say, I was too because Jack tried to kill me again. What is his problem? And where is Cesar Millan when I need him?? Jack needs to go to that dog rehab center that the bad dogs go to on his show because I am convinced I play no role in his rude behavior.

Thank you for coming back Uncle Michael. Now take him with you.

Why are you still here?

Oh, Doritos? OKAY!

Mom? He looks like he wants to try to eat me again!

Finally Jack went away and Mom & I got some pizza! Okay, Mom just got some pizza and tortured me with it for awhile.

Now for some random cuteness of Yours Truly.

Wise beyond my years.

Me looking tiny and adorable.

That's all for now, folks! Hope to see you all again soon!!

Puggie Stuff

Alright people, my Mom is now officially Crazy Pug Lady. Look what she got:


She got it from a place online called www.mod-dog.com and they have lots of different breeds and colors! (Mom's note: this is a really pretty Chartreuse green, it doesn't photograph well!)

And I got my first Puppia harness! Isn't it fetching?

Let me do some modeling for you.

Okay...

...I might be losing patience now...

Yep, I'm TOTALLY OVER IT, MOM.

Apparently pugs are hard to size in harnesses so Mom wants me to tell you that this is a size Large and I weigh 24.7 pounds, to give you an idea. Wow Mom, is there no mystery in life anymore? She got this on Ebay from a very nice lady named Sue who helped her with the sizing, her store is called My Doggies' Closet.

Well I had some more random pictures to post but they'll have to wait for the next post because Blogger is ridiculous. Until then!

Visit to the Vet

Hello everyone! My Mom finally got her laptop back so we are back in business!

Last week we had to go to the V-E-T. I don't really mind the vet so much, I'm pretty laidback when I'm there because they are so nice to me.


I ran into this mop-looking thing in the waiting room. She was 3 months old and her name was Penny. She was super weird. She would come up and lay down right in front of me and then as soon as I moved toward her she scooted backwards really fast all the way under the chair! Her Mom said she was a scaredy cat. But she was a dog. I was confused.

We had to go to the vet because my back end has been really itchy. I can't explain what's wrong because I don't speak human. I jump off the couch all the time and go after my tail and spin around on the floor and sometimes Mom gives me some good deep scratches on my lower back and hips and I looooooove that! Mom thought I needed my butt squeezed (oh joy, my favorite) so we went to the groomer. But that didn't help so we went to the vet to have them do it internally. Oh, yes, that sounds like as much fun as it actually was. The vet said not much came out though, and that my skin looks great, and I don't have any worms or fleas, so she thinks it is just allergies. Do any of you out there have any advice? Mom says we may go to another vet to get a second opinion if the Oatmeal bath she gave me today doesn't help.

Anyway, we had to wait in that back room forever, but I was very patient.

I hung halfway out in to the hallway so I could see all of the action while I waited.
It was about 95 degrees that day so I got to ride in the front seat by the air conditioner instead of the back in my crate!

I was a very good boy but Mom said it made her really nervous to think of me flying through the windshield so I won't get to do that very often. Boo. She really cramps my style sometimes. What? Oh, hi Mom!

When we got home, I drank a whole bunch of water and had an ice cube and just collapsed on the floor for awhile.

Pssst! Mom! You really need to sweep.

Brief Hiatus

Wow! We got a lot of new friends thanks to Salinger and his Mom! So nice to meet everyone! Sadly we're going to be on a little bit of a hiatus from new posts for the next week or two because Mom's stupid laptop had to be sent back for repair (for the second time in 6 months...) and she can't download any pics of Yours Truly without it. So I just wanted to leave you with a couple of pictures to tide you over!

This is me and my favorite Bear that Mom got for me at Target for only 99 cents!

I guess that's a good thing he was only 99 cents because I only got to play with him for a few minutes before I punctured a hole in his ear and then he mysteriously disappeared. Hmmmm. Oddly enough, he has returned twice since then but one time he was green and one time he was purple. Now that I tell this story out loud, I should really look in to what is going on!!

Mom calls this one "Pug in Sunlight":

Come on Mom, we know you aren't an artist. Please don't title my pictures.

Thanks again everyone for visiting! We'll be seeing you all again hopefully really soon!

Alarm System Not Needed

Who says pugs don't make good guard dogs? I'm always on high alert for suspicious activity.

Suspicious activity includes, but is not limited to: talking, walking by, parking your car, getting out of your car, or going in to your house. My reaction to suspicious activity is to bark and sound completely ferocious, followed by intense whining. Mom should know better than to dare to have her windows open on a nice day!

Mom says my "butt keeps getting wider and wider."

That was rude, Mom.

For that I'm going to give you my pathetic face and drop a pug's worth of hair on your hardwood floors every day.

Happy 4th of July!

On the 3rd of July we went to my Aunt Becky's to watch UFC later that night - and you know how much I love UFC!

Recycling my Memorial Day collar!

There were lots of other dogs there, including my cousin Jack. The best part is that there were NO FIREWORKS, unlike at my house! And I live in the City, as opposed to Aunt Becky! Mom says fireworks are illegal in the City but apparently no one cares about that.

It was hot outside, even at 5:30 when we got there, so they had a HUGE drinking bowl on the deck for us dogs! Some dogs even got IN it! I thought it was pretty rude of them to get in my water bowl.


I'm no dummy, I knew where I needed to set up shop:

Jack however IS a dummy, I had to show him that you can actually drink out of this thing. He said there was hair and dirt in it but what does he know?

Fine Jack, you can just dehydrate for all I care! I remember what you did to me last time I saw you!

Mom kept taking me in the house to the air conditioning, but I really think it was only because she wanted to watch the Cardinals game.

The other dogs, as usual, were bigger than me.

Aunt Becky the Treat Whisperer strikes again!

Mostly I just hung back while they all chased each other and wrestled. I even referee'd a few matches. And Jack was nice to me! My Mom said I was like his shadow all night.

Me and Jack hanging out with Uncle Michael in the "Giant Natty Chair." I don't really know what that means, but I do know that Jack is nice to me whenever Uncle Michael is around so, okay.

I love Aunt Becky! (And don't make fun of how fat I am. Mom says she's changing my food YET AGAIN - I don't really agree with that but as long as she keeps feeding me, I guess I don't have much of a say. Besides, Aunt Becky is tiny, so I will blame my enormous appearance here on that fact.)

I was REAAAALLY tired after that long night with so many dogs and people and attention! But it doesn't matter how tired I am, when I hear that little chime from the camera turning on, I have to peek an eye open. Happy 4th everyone!!


My Mom would like for me to tell you (against my wishes) that on the actual 4th of July she spent the entire day & night listening to me FREAK OUT because of the practical-war zone in our neighborhood. I do NOT enjoy fireworks AT ALL! Unless I'm actually outside of course, then they don't bother me and I don't bark. I like to keep my Mom guessing. I think it keeps her on her toes.