ALBUQUERQUE — A New Mexico woman who was told months ago that her Chihuahua needed to be euthanized after it was viciously attacked by another dog has discovered that the dog is alive and has been living with another owner.

Lisa Gossett of Albuquerque was originally told by a veterinarian that the outlook was grim for the injured one-year-old Lola. Gossett was given two choices.

“‘Pay out all this money and there’s a 20 percent chance that she’ll live or euthanize her,”’ Gossett said. “So, it was hard.”

Gossett said she didn’t want Lola to suffer so she signed on the dotted line and said a painful goodbye. It hit her 5-year-old daughter Bianca hard, she said.

Our media partners at KOB-TV report (http://bit.ly/x4dDyT) that Gossett got a call earlier this week from a company that programs the ID microchips that go into pets. The company said a woman was requesting to switch Lola’s chip over to a new owner.

“And I said, ‘Oh no, you’re mistaken. Lola is not alive. We had her put down,”’ she said.

Turns out, the vet had turned Lola over to the foundation “Second Chance” which rehabilitates dogs. Gossett immediately called the vet demanding answers.

What she didn’t know, was that she had surrendered all ownership rights to the veterinarian when she signed over Lola to be euthanized. After finding out about the miscommunication, Second Chance put Gossett in touch with Lola’s new owner, Leslie Mason.

“When I was asked to take it I didn’t believe it had an owner and it was just in bad shape and needed to be nursed back to health,” said Mason, who recently lost a dog to disease.

She said the only thing that got her through it was nursing Lola back to health — who she renamed Tinker.

Gossett and her daughter decided to let Lola stay at her new home. But Gossett wants an apology from the veterinarian and a refund for the euthanization fee.





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