Dog Shot In The Jaw Continues To Face Complications After Being Sent Home
BEAVER (KDKA) -- KDKA has followed the progress of an abandoned dog found with a bullet lodged in its jaw, in Aliquippa.
"Eli" was taken to the Beaver County Humane Society, and even had surgery. Dr. Jasmin Wu thought at first the dog had an abscess, until surgery began.
"Instead of abscess," she said. "I found a shiny object. It was a bullet."
A bullet from a .9mm handgun. Surgery was successful, and Eli was eventually adopted.
"Eli was very fearful," said Humane Society director Susan Salyards. "We knew Eli was going to need somebody who had patience, because he had a fearful nature."
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Five weeks later, Eli's family brought him back to the Humane Society, his jaw once again swollen. Emergency surgery revealed that fragments from that bullet remained in his jaw. But an X-ray revealed an additional problem.
"With the initial gun short, there were some holes in the jaw, and that had caused some abscesses that were causing the problem at this time," the director explained.
Adopted by Enzo Ciccone and his wife, Eli had three teeth extracted, and has been put on 28 days of antibiotics. His owner says there were some personality bugs to work out, but now, "He's part of the family. Shares the bed with us. The couch. Loves watching TV. We have not given him people food yet, but he seems to think that he's entitled to it."
He says he and his wife had another dog, until just recently.
"There's a part of our home that was missing, and Eli seems to have filled that."
