360 pugs rescued since October, 2005
I can't begin to tell how much we love Stella. We picked her up on the Monday of the worst weekend of weather in all of April. We were greeted at the door by an assortment of pugs and of course Stella! Foster Mom was a caring lady who took special care of all her charges. We were given bags of toys and food and was told much about Stella to help us to bring her to her new forever home. She accepted the long ride home as if she had always known us. The first night she was a little anxious but she settled down in her new mom's bed, two souls destined to forge a bond together. Every day since, it was if she knew no other home. She gets three walks a day, plays plenty of fetch the ball and tug of war. I think all the walks tire her out. She is a true pug, velcroing herself to mostly her mom but sometimes me. She likes to eat, but is learning she doesn't have to compete for food, so she sometimes leaves it her until she feels hungry. She likes people but does not seem to have any need for furry companions. She enjoys being the only pet in the home and loves going for a drive. All in all she is a wonderful little girl and we love her and she loves us.
Stella is a super sweet girl that loves to play. She will happily play with toys by herself but really loves if someone will play ball with her. Stella will bring it back to you and drop it when you tell her to. She can really run and jump and would be a great agility dog.
Stella also loves to cuddle up beside you and will follow you everywhere. In typical pug fashion, she likes to eat.
Stella would do well with a young family that can help her burn off her energy. She gets excited about walks and spins at first. Stella is also excellent in the car. She is okay with the resident pugs but can be a bit pushy when she wants attention. For that reason I feel the best thing for her is that she be an only dog where she is the center of attention.
Stella is very smart and catches on to new things quickly. She will make a fantastic loving member of the family.
It's been awhile since we last updated everyone on Stella. However, there wasn't much new to share. For most of 2018, Stella made regular trips to the vet for urinalysis and every time, the results were the same - struvite crystals and a high PH, but no infection. A specialist was consulted earlier in the year and the suspicion was that Stella had an infection within her bladder wall that wasn't showing up in the cultures. Thus, she was put on a month of antibiotics and then retested today now that the antibiotics are out of her system. I'm excited to say that Stella is officially crystal-free and her PH is a very normal 6.5!!
Given how challenging it has been to resolve Stella's health issues, the vet suspects that she may always be prone to UTIs. Her forever parents will need to be very diligent with doing regular urinalysis as well as frequent PH tests at home. Normally, one could also watch for symptoms, but Stella has never shown any. It is also likely that Stella will need to remain on special food. She has finished the Rayne Adult Health - RSS dog food, but there were no significant improvements to her PH while on it. Thus, we will be switching her back to the RC Veterinary Diet - Urinary SO dog food as it seems to work best for her. Despite the possibilities of hiccups in the future, we are all so happy to know that Stella is now healthy and will be ready to adopt very soon!
Through all of these tests, medications and food changes, Stella has been nothing, but her adorable, playful and energetic self! She loves nothing more than playing with toys and chasing a ball. Stella would be a great agility dog for an active family as she lives to run and jump! She is also a champion kisser and has taken on the job of professional ear cleaner to the resident pugs in her foster home!
Stay tuned for her Adoption Requirements as Stella will be looking for her forever home very soon!
Stella's latest urinalysis showed that she still has struvite crystals and a high PH, but no signs of infection. We are trying a new food yet again - Rayne Adult Health-RSS - and will do a recheck in another month. Hopefully this one works for her.
Health issues aside, Stella continues to be a spunky, playful girl. She had a very spoiled Christmas of course, but still tried her best to use her super cuteness to get some Christmas turkey. She was no match for her foster mom who stayed strong and offered her some more appropriate treats instead.
As our Facebook followers know, in early November, Stella had an odd experience at the vet. On November 9th, we posted that Stella had visited the vet for bladder x-rays to try and determine why her urinary pH was all over the map. Both vets reviewed the x-rays and agreed that poor Stella had a jawbreaker-sized stone in the middle of her bladder. A rectal exam was also done and nothing was found.
Obviously, a stone this size needs immediate attention and Stella was scheduled for surgery that day. However, as soon as the vet opened Stella up, it was clear that there was no stone in the bladder. Instead, the vet found a hard ball of poop (!!!) way up in the intestines, in the perfect position to come up as a bladder stone on X-ray films. It was a shock to both us and the vets.
Of course, everyone at the clinic felt awful and only charged us for the x-rays that we initially went in for in the first place. Pugalug completely understood the mistake, and agreed with their assessment of the x-rays. The surgery was no more invasive than a spay and Stella has bounced back without issue. Basically, the whole situation was a random fluke and now we can be 100% sure that the issue isn't in her bladder. No biggie. It happens!
Since her visit to the vet, Stella has been doing well. She took it easy for a day or two, but was back to her usual playful self in no time, quickly going to work digging all the toys out of the toy box! She had her stitches removed two weeks after the surgery and that visit was uneventful. Although we still don't know what is causing Stella's wonky pH, she is enjoying the Urinary Care c/d diet and we will retest her urine just before Christmas once the post-op antibiotics have left her system.
In the meantime, Stella continues to be her silly, playful self. She loves to eat and spins like a top while her foster mom prepares her breakfast and dinner. She has also learned a sleeping trick from her foster brother, wiggling under the blankets to join him at bedtime. Her foster family loves having her around. There's no doubt that Stella will win the hearts of her forever family in no time!
Stella is a 5 year old black pug who was surrendered by her owner through no fault of her own. She has settled into foster care very well and is getting along great with the resident pugs. Prior to coming into foster care, it was known that Stella has a history of UTIs and she wasn't in her foster home that long before it was noticed that she was urinating small amounts quite frequently. Despite this issue, Stella has been incredibly clean inside the house.
Given that she was showing signs of an UTI, Stella was taken for her initial vet check quite quickly and a urinalysis showed a few crystals and other foreign bodies in her urine but no blood. The vet prescribed a week worth of antibiotics and a culture has been sent off for additional testing. Results should be back shortly and we will see what course of action, if any, will be required going forward. The vet also noted that Stella had a yeast infection in her right ear and nose fold, which is also being treated. She is a healthy 8.1 kgs and in great shape. Her teeth have a tiny bit of tartar, but not enough to warrant a dental.
Clearly, Stella hasn't received the memo telling her that she's no longer a puppy and she's very busy for her age. Her favourite game is to play ball out in the backyard. She even brings it back to you to throw again and again. Despite not being your typical couch potato pug, when she slows down Stella is still very cuddly and loves to give kisses!
