When Judith Monarrez received an email informing her that Gizmo, her dog missing for nine years, had been found, she was overcome with emotion and collapsed weeping on her kitchen floor.
In 2015, Gizmo, then just two years old, escaped through a faulty gate at Monarrez's family home in Las Vegas. Over the ensuing decade, while Monarrez moved into her place, completed a master’s degree in English, and started a career in higher education, she never stopped her efforts to find her lost pet.
Now 37, Monarrez rushed to an animal hospital across town after learning that Gizmo, now aged 11, had been brought there by a woman who found him. The hospital staff scanned his microchip, leading to the joyous notification.
By the evening of July 17, Gizmo was reunited with Monarrez, who described the event as "a miracle" and expressed her gratitude for having registered his microchip.
This reunion coincided with the upcoming enforcement of a new city ordinance in Las Vegas, mandating microchips for all pet cats and dogs starting August 1.
Monarrez said that Gizmo’s first week back at home has brought mixed emotions.
She said it was clear that the nine years they had spent apart had changed Gizmo, too. The 8-pound Chihuahua had grown afraid of shadows, heights, and birds, and Gizmo now walked with a limp. Monarrez said both of the dog’s eyes were also severely infected, and some of his teeth were missing.
“Even though he looked so different, when I looked in his eyes I knew immediately it was Gizmo,” Monarrez said, recalling the moment they were reunited at the vet’s office. “And as soon as I said his name, he tilted his head and he did not stop staring at me.”
While Monarrez and her parents can’t stop thinking about what Gizmo endured after he went missing, their focus now, she said, is on addressing his health issues and “showering him with all the love that we were holding onto for all those years.”
