Paloma was rescued on Christmas day 2020 after being discovered near Cancun, Mexico, with a severe injury to her back left leg. Evidently, some kids grabbed her off the street and attached a firecracker to her leg and lit it, blowing off her paw. She flew to the U.S. in the summer of 2021 hoping to find her forever family…
“When I was a kid, my abuelo had a ranch full of animals. He loved taking care of and seeing them everyday; cows, goats, chickens, and donkeys. I would help him tend to them on weekends. One thing I always thought was strange was that he had the same name for all of them- Palomo or Paloma. When I would ask him why, he’d say he just loved the name, that it was his favorite.
Fast forward to 2021, my partner and I had been searching endlessly for a dog to welcome into our family. Scrolling on the SDH website, I saw the name I had grown to love so much reappear in my life; “Paloma”! The name was accompanied by a smiling photo of our soon-to-be pup. She was found on Christmas Day in 2020 after a traumatic event caused one of her paws to be amputated. When we brought her home on the first of September, we knew she had a long road ahead of her; her paw was still actively healing, and we could tell she was still in a great amount of pain. We considered every option; paw prosthetics, more rounds of antibiotics, amputation… We quickly realized Paloma wouldn’t have the chance to live a full, active life unless she had a full leg amputation. It’s hard to prepare for that type of procedure. The recovery period was brutal with Paloma on several pain medications for weeks. We now understand why pups bond so intensely with their owners after an experience like that. The surgery was a little over a month ago now, and Paloma has made a full recovery. We saw her run for the first time about four weeks post surgery. Today, she loves going to the ocean, finding the perfect sun soaked spot on the back patio, and eating bananas. We often comment on how lucky we feel to have found a dog that perfectly fits into our young family. Paloma loves people more than anything, and even though she has been through such a deep trauma, we try to focus on all the life she’s yet to live.” – Paloma’s mom.
