Megan had me check out Stevie's tummy while I was there Saturday. She said she thought Stevie was losing hair, getting bald on her underside. At first, I thought she was just overreacting to the small dog syndrome or first dog syndrome. But sure enough, when I checked Stevie out, her belly was looking a little -- okay, a lot -- hairless. I suggested maybe demodex, but thought it would be more scaly. Maybe allergies. Still recommended she go to the vet to get a professional opinion and whatever treatment she might need.

Yesterday, they went to the veterinarian. Sure enough, it was a very mild case of demodex... they found a couple of mites on her. It hasn't slowed her down a bit. After all, if the dog doesn't even know she's blind, what are a couple of skin mites??? They went home with appropriate meds and peace of mind, but not before the vet weighed Stevie for proper dosage.

Now there's a story. We had thought Stevie weighed about 6 pounds, based on one of her last vet visits. Then when I took Little Bit (my b/t female IMPS foster, who weighs a whopping 5.6 lbs) to visit, we noticed that Little Bit appeared to be BIGGER than [we thought] 6 lb Stevie. Hmmm. So when the vet weighed Stevie and the numbers came up 4.75 lbs, Megan made her do it again. She must have been wiggling around, Megan said. So back on the scale she went. It was still 4.75 lbs. Dr. Martin asked if she should put her thumb on the scale?

So it's no wonder Stevie looked smaller than Little Bit... She IS. I asked Megan, well, if Little Bit is Little Bit, and Stevie is smaller than that, what does that make her? Littler Bit?

Megan said, "I dunno. Dinky?"

Regardless of her weight, she is so darned cute and funny. I do the best I can to describe her wonderful self on this blog, but unless you've met and interacted with her, it's hard to understand just how hilarious and far too cute she is. Hence the blog and photos. We just want to share the Stevie bounty.

Cheers to all creatures great and small...
G

Visited with Megan and Stevie yesterday. Stevie is, as usual, quite entertaining. We met an 8 week old Chihuahua/Shitzu mix (???) who was so scared for some reason we can't figure out, she squealed and frightened the rest of us. We made a deal with the puppy's mistress to go out to the Stevie Tree with them sometime in the near future. Megan felt bad because she thought Stevie had done something to the little puppy who was, yes, smaller than Stevie. But both the pup's mom and I "saw the whole thing", and Stevie didn't do anything at all; guess the Chihua-tzu just got spooked. Cute little bugger, though.

Stevie LOVES to see what's up on Megan's coffee table. She could jump up there if she really wanted to, but doesn't know she can, which is probably just as well. She circles it on her hind legs looking for whatever she can find to play with. She stole my camera, my keys and then she found The Big Stick. Oh, happy day! She pranced around the apartment with the stick in her mouth like it was some kind of prize. It was just too funny. (See Gallery by clicking the word "Gallery" on your right.)



What can I tell ya? She continues to be hysterically cute and extremely entertaining.

Cheers!
G

Megan has relayed a couple of new "Stevie Stories" to me that are definitely blog-worthy:

1) Stevie was deep in REM sleep (where dreams occur, eyes move, sounds are made) recently. Megan looked over to where she was sleeping, little wurfing noises coming from her puppy throat... and her eyes were OPEN, darting back and forth, rolling back in her head! Megan laughed and shivered. She thought it was funny, in a can't-stop-looking-at-a-car-wreck, sick sort of way, but also THE absolute creepiest thing she has ever seen.

2) The other night, Megan and Stevie were *just* about to drift off to sleep... when Stevie must have heard something audible only to her magnificent, albeit rather large, Stevie ears. She jumped straight up under the blanket on the bed, barked once, then turned around, laid down and went back to sleep. Might be considered amusing, once you get over the initial dog-bark alarm waking you from near-sleep.

3) Stevie continues to "shake its brains out" of the neon frog inside of her crate. If you've been keeping up with this blog, you'll remember that Megan was awakened one night, positive that Stevie had climbed down into her crate and was having a seizure inside it. She could hear thrashing about and was afraid to go see what was happening. When she went to Stevie's aid, it was only to discover that Stevie had evidently awakened refreshed [and bored] from her puppy nap and decided that the neon frog required some corporal punishment. She still exercises this same action, as evidenced by the new photos in the Gallery that Megan sent me today. Her comment in the email in which they arrived was, "For a *blind* dog, she sure knows where the camera is." Check it out by clicking on "Gallery" to your right...

Gotta love it!

G