This would explain things

Oh my little girl. My little, EXPENSIVE Rikki. 

Sure, I knew owning a dog would cost a lot of money--you are taking care of a living being, after all.  The food, toys, leashes, etc.  And the all obliterating vet fees.  Like with Bunni (our first pug) and her multiple UTIs.  But Rikki has put her sister to shame in the health department. I feel like little and big things keep popping up with this monster.  Not all of them required a vet visit, but let's go through a quick rundown.

The day I pick her up, the breeder informs me she has a hot spot. Fine. No biggie.

The day I pick her up, I notice that she has a wonky rib, probably because she broke it a long time ago and it healed funny. Fine, no biggie. Oh except that every single person who touches it asks about it with an accusing look like *we* broke it, on *purpose* or something.

Before we get a chance to have her spayed, she went into heat.  HEAT.  She proceeds to bleed all over the place for about a month.  My poor sister and brother-in-law got stuck with the bleeding heat pug while we traipsed off to Bali.  They did come up with the cutest MacGyver-ed diapers for her, though.

 Why the pirate eye, Rikki? Don't give your auntie any stink-eye, you're the one bleeding all over the house.

Turned out she has pigmentary keratitis on her eyes, a scarring on the cornea common to pugs that can lead to blindness, requiring multiple vet visit and prescriptions for eye ointment.

She picked up a tapeworm somewhere, which we realized after Kevin saw what looked like a little grain of rice crawling around her nether region. Yeah, GROSS.  Another vet visit, and meds for both dogs.

We got her spayed.  At our very convenient but expensive nearby vet, the cost is about $350-400, including a teeth cleaning (the dog is under so why not scrape the plaque off). Fine. But we go into pick her up and are informed that she had to have some teeth pulled.  Fine. I expected this because when we got her I noticed that some of her teeth, especially the bottom row in the front, were in horrible shape. Like, discolored, obviously loose, and probably decaying.  So she had some teeth pulled. Or to be more exact, 8 of them, almost all from the offensive bottom front row.

If it isn't obvious, Rikki is on the left, showing the gaping hole between her lower canines. Toothless wonder.

What I wasn't expecting? The bill. One thousand dollars.  I practically fainted.

Upon bringing the little money-suck home, I begin to look at one of her habits in a new, we-just-spent-$1000-on-your-teeth kind of light.  Rikki, in what we used to think was one of the most adorable poses ever, likes to fall asleep with a plush toy wedged in her mouth.

Yes, she likes to cradle this bacteria-laden toy in her teeth.  Have another look.

Yeah, right where her lower teeth used to be. I have a feeling this "cute little habit" of hers contributed to her dental issues.

Right after taking these photos, the toy was gently wrenched away from her mouth.