Our little Mela...

Mela is a little bit of nothing... About 2.5 pounds if that... She was spotted by someone in the general public at a local high kill shelter, and we got numerous emails about her... Finally, we discovered she was in the medical ward because of demodex - a form of mange... And of course, with demodex they have a distinctive odor, so she earned the name of "Stinky Butt" as well!

Mela is coming along little by little... Demo takes some time to recover from... It seems they need to lose all of their hair first and then slowly, slowly as their nutrition levels rise with better food, antibiotics to fight off secondary infections and lots of TLC and cuddling, the skin starts regenerating its coat...

So while you might pull a naked dog out of a shelter, there's no telling what you will end up with once you've gotten the demo taken care of!

She's no longer 'stinky' but the name has stuck... We're still working on some bare spots along with her tummy and legs... She's got a cowlick on the top of her head and still a small bald spot, but still amazing progress in a short time... 

Mela is an 'under the chin' cuddler... Given half a second, up underneath your chin she'll go and snuggle in for a nap... She's very sweet and loving, but she's a true Chihuahua!... Don't mess with her, no matter how big of a dog you might be... Mela 'don't play'... No matter who you are! ...

In fact it seems that the bigger you are, the more likely she is to tell you where to go, how fast and when!... The other dogs know if Mela wants to sleep in a certain corner of the bed, that is hers to nap in... She claims it, it is hers!... And don't argue with her either!

In her world, she's typical Chihuahua - 2.5 pounds of weight and a 100 pounds of attitude... No lack of self esteem, even if she is half naked... 

Sweet pup... Once she's fully healed, she will make someone a great dog!....

~~~ Linda