Her face can melt hearts.
Rich auburn hair accentuates her amber eyes, which search the world with playful curiosity.
A permanent smile rests on her face, and it seems to spread wider every time the 3-year-old meets someone new.
The only thing strange about her appearance is her periwinkle-colored tongue and the bald patches on her side and legs.
Though Mushi, a 3-year-old Chow Chow mix, is calm now, her owner, Dan Kahn, said she’s been fighting for her life.
Mushi was hit by a car Oct. 9 after digging her way under Kahn’s fence while he was at work. She spent almost a week at UF’s Small Animal Hospital, recovering from severe lung injuries, multiple gashes and a damaged hip and shoulder.
“It’s been a crazy, wild rollercoaster of a week,” Kahn said.
Kahn first learned about Mushi’s accident when he got a series of frantic phone calls from friends. He sped to the hospital to find Mushi barely conscious.
But her personality couldn’t be dampened by medications. When she saw him, Mushi lifted two of her legs and exposed her belly so he could scratch it.
“It was the first time I’ve ever heard her whine,” Kahn said.
She had an oxygen tube fed down to her lungs to keep her breathing. After several days and surgeries, Kahn brought Mushi home. She brought a $7,000 vet bill with her — about $1,000 a day.
Kahn said it’s been difficult to pay off the debt, mainly because he doesn’t earn much at his job. He provides free and discounted legal services through Three Rivers Legal Services Inc.
A group of Kahn’s friends hosted a charity concert for Mushi at Loosey’s Downtown and raised $1,242 to help pay the medical bills. They also set up a donation page called “Love for Dan & Mushi” at YouCaring.com.
Mark Archer, a Gainesville resident who said he’s known Kahn for about a year, is impressed with Kahn’s selfless nature and service to the community.
“He’s one of the nicest, coolest guys you’ll ever meet,” Archer said.
Though the concert was a success, Kahn said he had to reach out to family members for hasty loans.
“It’s really hard for me to ask for money,” Kahn said.
But Kahn swallowed his pride for Mushi, who was 10 days old when he met her. In 2009, Kahn walked into one of his favorite stores and noticed something different.
“I saw this fuzzy piglet of a dog on top of a kitten cage in the back of the store,” Kahn said.
The dog was found in a Micanopy parking lot after a hawk tried to scoop her up with its talons, piercing her sides.
She was checked out by a vet and given to a store owner temporarily. The employees called the dog Maggie, after the maggots that sometimes wriggled in her wounds. The vet couldn’t give her stitches because she was too small. Formula food would dribble out of the holes in her belly.
Kahn left the store that day dogless but couldn’t get the puppy out of his mind. He decided to foster her for eight weeks, which turned into an adoption about a month later.
“She’s a tough little monster,” Kahn said. “But she loves people.”
Before the car accident, Mushi assumed the role of protector-in-chief. She’d patrol the yard to make sure raccoons and opossums knew they weren’t welcome on her turf.
She’s still too weak to command her normal post with a thick cast on her right front leg, but Kahn said his house feels more like home again with his best friend around.
“The squirrels know she’s back,” Kahn said.
Contact Shelby Webb at swebb@alligator.org.
Mushi, a 3-year-old Chow Chow mix, sits on Dan Kahn’s lap and looks at passersby outside Loosey’s in downtown Gainesville on Tuesday, two weeks after being hit by a car.
