Isis was a regular customer at the Puppy Palace Buffet for several months before we caught her. She generally arrived in the company of two buddies-a female and a male. The three were almost always together. Of the three, Isis was by far the shyest and most frightened. She was very thin. She would eat, but only if we were a good distance away. We could never touch her or catch her.
On May 31, 2011 she was most likely struck by a car. We got reports of a badly injured dog in the park by the Puppy Palace and hurried to check. We found Isis bleeding profusely from the mouth and muzzle. She looked as though she’d dipped her nose into a bucket of blood. She was in obvious pain and terrified.
We tried to catch her, but she took off running. A group including a couple of young men we know chased after her. She ran a long way-about 8 long blocks-before turning down a dead-end street. The boys managed to lasso her there, and Dr. Calderon was on the scene in a few minutes to tranquilize her and get her to the clinic.
Isis had a badly fractured mandible-both upper and lower jaw was fractured. Isis underwent surgery immediately. Her jaws were so badly fractured that they had to be wired together. The vet inserted a feeding tub in her neck, and placed a huge cone on her to prevent her from bothering her wounds.
We fed Isis a mixture of ground dog food, water, and vitamins through the tube in her neck every few hours for over a month until her jaw finally healed enough for her to be able to eat again. During this time, she was forced to allow us near, and she began to trust people again.
Her rehabilitation took many months. In September of 2012 we took her to San Francisco with Candy, and she found her home in October. Isis is a special miracle for us.
