Chihuahua named Gizmo vanished 9 years ago. Then his owner got a call from hospital

Nine years ago, a chihuahua went missing. Then his Nevada owner got a call that changed everything.

On Feb. 3, 2015, Gizmo the 2-year-old chihuahua mix went missing, his Las Vegas owner, Judith Monarrez, told McClatchy News in a July 25 phone interview.

“I grieved him,” she said. “About year five is when I started to kinda give up hope. My friends would always say, ‘You never know, people get reunited all the time,’ so there was hope in that, but I was prepared for the worst.”

Monarrez was at work in 2015, when her three dogs, including Gizmo, got out of the house, she said.

“The neighbor was able to wrangle the other two dogs but said a woman grabbed Gizmo with plans to get his microchip scanned,” she said.

But Gizmo was never returned.

Nine years went by, and Monarrez continued posting to social media, calling vets and plastering fliers around her city.

Then came a call last week.

Gizmo had been taken to an animal hospital by a good Samaritan, she said.

He was found only 10 miles away from Monarrez’s home.

“I started crying when I got the call, I just broke down,” she said. “My entire family was in shock. We couldn’t believe they had him.”

Gizmo was in “rough shape” when Monarrez rushed to pick him up.

“It was heartbreaking,” she said. “They had to remove his teeth, he had this infection in his eye, his fur was so matted they had to shave it all off. He had to be sedated for everything. He was so skittish.”

Monarrez said although she doesn’t know what Gizmo has been through over the course of nine years, his personality is slowly coming back.

“When he came home and saw my other dog, after all this time, they had one sniff and instantly remembered each other. Now they cuddle in their crate all day,” she said.

Monarrez’s goal is for Gizmo, now 11, to get as close to as healthy as he used to be.

“We’re ecstatic,” she said. “After nine years, we got him back. It’s unbelievable.”

This story was originally published July 25, 2024 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Chihuahua named Gizmo vanished 9 years ago. Then his owner got a call from hospital."